Maximum Ride: After the End of the World
by kiki1592
Summary: sequel to Maximum Ride: International Mutants Max and the flock are back from antarctica.but, can they all stay together when they have surprising new allies turned enemies and are being threatened to change at every turn in the road? FAX,IgOC, NudgeOC
1. Ari?

_**Notes:**_** Read my other story, Maximum Ride: International Mutants, before you read this. You won't understand this if you don't. And before I start, I'd like to thank all those people who read my first story. And reviewed faithfully. Angel is now 7, Abbey is still 7, Rayne and Nudge are both 12. Gazzy is 9 and Charity just turned 14. The three oldest are all 15, but Max's 16****th**** birthday is in a few weeks.**

_2 days later, we stepped off of Antarctica for the first time in 8 months. The warmth of the sun was unbelievable. I saw small living organisms swimming through the sea below me. _

_We all had more strength and were able to fly straight to Argentina, we did. I saw experiments all over. I had no idea there were so many. It was now mine and Fang's job to rule them. I hope we can manage._

Maximum Ride: After the End of the World

Chapter 1: Ari?

Max's POV

We slowly made our way to the house that I had grown to know and love. Dr. Martinez's in Arizona. I knew that I would only cry when I saw what was there, but I had to go. Ari was there, too.

I flew more slowly than usual as we approached the house where my sister and mother had once lived.

"Wait here. Seriously. I don't want you to see anything. Wait until I say you can come down, got it?" I said looking the trouble makers of the flock in the eye, namely Angel, Rayne, and Fang. They nodded. They didn't want to get hurt anyway. I landed softly in almost the same spot I had 2 years ago, when I had 1st met them. Something moved inside the house and slowly the door opened. A familiar person walked out.

"ARI!" I yelled, jumping out from under the bush and running to hug my half-brother. I smiled weakly and warmly returned my hug.

"How are you? Are you okay? What happened after I left?" I let go and he immediately bombarded me with questions.

"I'm fine. We stayed in Antarctica. And…" He knew what I wanted to ask and shook his head.

"They're gone. I'm sorry, Max. They all said they loved you. I was supposed to give you this. It's from your mom." He said as he led m into the house. He walked to the kitchen where I tasted my 1st homemade chocolate chip cookie and opened the drawer where the silverware used to be. Ari pulled out a piece of paper, it was folded a dozen times and crumpled. Like it had been read and re-read a hundred times.

"Thanks, are…they…buried, yet?" I asked as the tears came flowing. Ari nodded.

"They're out back. Graves are really nice, too." He said. I nodded.

"So, what's with the belly?" Ari asked me as we left the house.

"I'm pregnant. It's a girl; her name is going to be Ella." I said, looking in the sky for my flock. I spotted them about 200 yards away. I waved and they waved back.

"Hold on Ari. I have to go get them. I'll be right back." He nodded. I took off and flew up to my flock.

"Max! What happened? Is it okay for us to come down? Is Ari okay?" Nudge.

"Yes, come on." We all flew back towards Ari in the front porch. The flock hugged him, even Fang. Then we went inside to the living room.

"It feels so good to be here again. I really missed it." Angel said and those who had been here before all agreed.

"What happened to you, Ari?" Fang asked, a tone of defiance flashed through his voice.

"I had to say goodbye to my father. I wanted to be there when…you know. I'm sorry I left, I really am. I've been by myself for the last 6 months thinking about how awful it was that I left. So much has changed. I wouldn't blame anyone of you if I weren't allowed to go with you guys." Ari hung his head in shame. Fang rolled his eyes, but he knew that I had a soft spot for Ari.

"Ari, you're coming with us. I don't know where we're going yet. But you're coming to where ever it is." I said putting my hands under my growing belly. He nodded in submission.

"What happened Ari? You were there, right? I want to know what happened." Iggy demanded.

"Well, the sky went dark. After a few minutes, Ella was on the ground. Nobody c-could wake her u-up. Then, Dr. M-Martinez fell over. After an h-hour, Jeb s-said goodb-bye and died. It was awful, but the worst thing I've ever done was drag their bodies out of the house." Ari said. His eyes glazed over, like he was still reliving that awful day. I patted his back.

"It's okay, Ari. Max and Fang are the rulers, now. They'll tell somebody else to move the icky things so you don't have to." Abbey said in her 7 year old ways. I shook my head.

"Abbey, sweetie, it doesn't work like that." I began.

"First, we'll probably have to fight some bad guys who want to rule first. You're going to help us right? Because you're powers can help a lot." Fang said ruffling the yung'un's hair. I smiled. He really would be a good daddy soon. Abbey smiled.

"Ari, is there any food because I'm really hungry?" Nudge asked my half-brother and he stood up.

"Yea, this morning I finally got to go to the store. I just took some food, because nobody was working. What do you want?" He asked opening some cabinets.

"Spagettios?" Nudge asked and we all agreed. Any food sounded good to me. H out lots of cans on the table and I took a can opener out of the drawer. Then we all dug in. About an hour later, our bellies were finally full and we sat down to relax. Relaxation is always short lived, though.

"Okay, we have stuff to do. Now, you can wither stay here, or come with us. Make a choice, now." I said eyeing my flock. I knew what their answer would be, but I figure I'd give them the choice anyway.

"We want to come with you, duh!" Angel had read everybody's mind and voiced their opinion. I figured. Nodding, I stood up and told them to follow me.

"We have a world to save!" I said as I jumped off the porch and into the cool morning breeze. As I jumped, the baby kicked for the first time. My hand instinctively flew to my swollen belly and Fang looked at me, worry clouding his gorgeous features.

"Are you okay? Is the baby alright?" He asked me.

"Yea, she kicked." I smiled and flew to the front of the flock. We flew towards those who would be on our side, and we were going to kill anything that got in our way.

**That's the end of the first chapter! YAY! I couldn't keep you all waiting for too long. Plus, my friend, who's never read MR read my story and loved it. R&R.**


	2. Claire, Martin, and Kaila

_**Notes:**_** yay, 2****nd**** chapter. I enjoy writing for you people, but I need reviews. I won't hold y'all for long. Here it is.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the characters, well, most of them.**

**Claimer: I own the plot, Charity, Rayne, Abbey, Ella (the baby), Kaila, Martin, Taszies, and Claire. If you ask nicely, though I might let you borrow them.**

Chapter 2: No Name

Max's POV

Everywhere we flew, I saw Taszies and knew what I'd have to defeat to rule. They were monsters. Tormenting the poor young mutants that were trying to enjoy the first day of sun.

"Max, look down there! It's somebody with wings." Abbey pointed out a poor soul somewhere of Delaware. I nodded.

"There are more. Avian-human hybrids and erasers were the most successful hybrids so there are probably a lot of us." I said. I brought us down anyway to where 3 Taszies were bothering a little boy with wings.

"Are these idiots bothering you?" I asked the little boy. He nodded from inside the circle of Taszies. I nodded.

"Fang, would you do the honors?" I asked my boyfriend who smiled and came out from behind a building. He whipped out his wings and menacingly stared at the Taszies.

"We're trying to get rid of the Taszies, not scare the poor kid." I yelled at him and he folded in his wings.

"Pick on somebody your own size!" That's better.

"Like you? Okay, we'll be with you as soon as we're done here." One Taszie said, and my jaw practically dropped when I realized it was a she. Fang shook his head.

"No you won't. I want to play…now. So, I'm afraid I'll have to ask to step away from that boy." Fang snarled. He had totally learned that voice edged with the steel in it from me.

"We will as soon as he's given us what we wanted. Food, a toy, that's all we're asking for. Can we help it if he's the food?" A different Taszie asked. Fang walked towards them confidently.

"Come on, kid. You can come with us." The boy looked petrified of both options, but I figured he'd pick the one who was trying to save him. I looked from the 3 Taszies to Fang. He might be able to beat them both, but it was unlikely. And I had sworn that I'd do a minimum of fighting.

"Charity, can you go help Fang, if he needs it?" I turned to my little sister, who nodded.

"Okay, I'll give you until the count of 3 to walk away. 1…" They didn't move, "2…" 1 of them twitched slightly, "3!" None of them had moved. Fang immediately launched himself at the nearest Taszie and knocked him off his feet. One punch to the stomach and he was down for the count. The second Taszie had his arms wrapped around Fang's neck and was yanking hard.

"Charity, go!" I shouted and Charity shot around the building to help Fang. She yelled and jumped on his back as the third Taszie tried to drag the boy away. The Taszie who was wrapped around Fang's neck fell off of him and Fang slammed his heel into his stomach. He grabbed Charity's hand and pulled her up, and then they rounded on the female Taszie. She was almost to our hiding spot with the boy dragging behind her. They jumped on her and Charity was about to kick her stomach when she began to yell.

"No, no. Please! Have mercy. I'm pregnant. You can't let my baby die. No, please." But the last sentence she was practically in tears. I stared at the 'pregnant' Taszie.

"You're pregnant?" I asked walking out from behind the building. I stared at her slightly swollen belly.

"Angel, is she really pregnant?" I whispered out of the corner of my mouth. Angel nodded. Fang helped her up and she gave me the twice over.

"Yea, I'm pregnant, too. What's your story?" I asked, staying back but still near enough so that if she attacked 1 of my own I could kill her.

"I'm a Taszie. The most successful experiment since you avians. Even more successful than Erasers. We don't have many emotions, or at least none that can make us weak. They wanted to see if a Taszie could have babies with our 'abilities.' So also wanted to try real conception. I've been carrying this wretched thing for almost a year. Apparently, we didn't get a human's gestation period. You're Maximum Ride, aren't you?" She paraphrased her story. I nodded, very slowly.

"She is. But if you touch her, I swear to God, I'll kill you." Fang stepped in between us. She held up her hands in the universal sign of defeat.

"Hey, those guys said they'd kill my baby if I didn't help them. For some reason, I actually have emotion. I feel what you guys do. I'm not like the others. You have to help me." She said. Thee little boy was standing behind me. He peeked out every now and then looking at Fang and the Taszie.

"What's your name?" Iggy asked.

"Claire. Claire Bond. And you're the flock, right?" Claire Bond asked us. No lame James Bond jokes, please.

"Yea." Nudge answered in short sentence.

"Well, I know 6 of you are. Who are the rest? Wait, I know that you're Ari, Jeb's son." Claire singled out Ari. He nodded.

"This is Rayne and Charity, my siblings. And this is Abbey." I said, introducing each newer member. Claire nodded to each as a form of hello.

"Where are you guys going? What's the plan for the flock?" Claire asked casually.

"Sorry, but we don't reveal ticks of the trade to total traders." Total snorted. Claire nodded.

"Total don't be so rude," I spat at him, even though it was true, "Are you going to be okay? Do you have food and stuff?" Maybe this pregnancy thing made me soft, but she was pregnant, too. I felt bad for her, almost. I would've felt a lot worse if she hadn't tried to hurt that little boy. Claire nodded.

"Yea, go save the world. Have fun. And take care of that little boy." She pointed to the boy standing behind me and I nodded. We left the Taszie and once we were behind the building again, we turned to the boy.

"Hi, I'm Max. What's your name?" I used the voice I did when I wanted Angel or Abbey to tell me something.

"Martin. Are you going to hurt me?" He looked so scared and tramatized.

"No, of course not. Can you tell us where you came from?" Fang asked bending down to his eye level.

"I came from the City. I've heard about you guys. You're THE flock! I heard you came from the School. They used white coats to experiment on you guys, right? Well, the City is a lot like that, only it was an experiments idea. Her name's Kaila. She an avian, like you guys, but I think she's older than you. She is nice, but her experiments got out of control. She tried to save us. She's still alive somewhere, but I don't where. She helped me escape, and then…I got lost. It was 2 days ago." Martin couldn't go on. I hugged him and patted his back as he began to cry softly.

"How old are you?" Angel came to stand next to me.

"3." Martin was only 3? Geez, in a way he was lucky to have escaped so early.

"Okay, you can come with us. It'll be dangerous, but Max can help take care of you. She can't fight right now." Fang said to the 3 year old.

"How come? I heard you guys were the best fighters in the whole world!" He was very energetic for a kid who was left by his mother type person 2 days ago.

"I'm going to have a baby." I answered and he hugged me tighter. We decided to get him some food and spend the night in an empty near-by hotel. I guess we won't have to pay for that stuff anymore.

**There, the 2****nd**** chapter. Did you like it? Send me feedback, aiight? Review and tell me whether you like Martin and try to guess who I named him and Kaila after. Hint: 1 of them is famous. The other is just pretty easy to guess.**


	3. Serious Thinking

_**Notes: **_**READ AND REVIEW!**

Chapter 3: Serious Thinking

Max's POV

We walked into the empty hotel and grabbed rooms next to each other. Martin stayed with us.

"Martin, can you tell me about this City place that you told us about?" Fang asked him picking him up and setting him on 1 of the 2 beds. Martin nodded.

"I lived there my whole life. It wasn't just a building like you grew up in. It really was an entire city. It was run by experiments. Kaila was an experiment, too. She's, like, 17. She wasn't born an experiment, though. When Kaila was 10 the white coats took her. She had the DNA, I don't know, inserted in her. She wanted the experiments to be treated better. She helped me and my sister escape. Kaila and Theodora went to get food 2 days ago. I haven't seen them. I'm hungry." The poor boy finished. I nodded.  
"Fang, can you order Martin a burger. And can I have something chocolatey?" I asked with a smile. He nodded and picked up the phone.

"Martin, you must be tired. You are more than welcome to stay with us, but it's going to be dangerous. We'll help you find Kaila, first. She's probably worried sick about you." This had been a long day, but I had more than poor Martin's hunger on my mind. If this City was run by experiments, then that means those experiments are very advanced. It also means that they're still alive. I think I know who has to be taken down before we take over.

An hour later, Martin was fast asleep, his head on my big belly. I had 1 arm wrapped tenderly around him. The only motherly figure he's probably ever seen was Kaila and, like us, only cruelty outside of 1 person.

"Fang, the City is probably still operating. Martin said that only Kaila was a good guy. They're like white coats, only harder to beat. I can't even fight! What are we going to do?" I asked him, looking at Fang. He shrugged.

"We'll find a way to take down this City. I was doing some research before the end of the world, and apparently Tasmanian devils are easily trained. So maybe, if we find more that Claire, we can build an army. We can recruit as many mutants as possible. If we get enough then we could bring them down. Even if the most amazing person I've ever met isn't fighting by my side." At least he got me to smile. He knew that and kissed me sweetly on the forehead.

We fell asleep shortly after and I heard the flock moving around in the rooms next to ours. I woke up to the sun shining in through my windows for the 2nd days in a row.

"Max, can I get some more food? Nevermind. I'll go ask Charity." Martin asked shaking me gently then thinking better of it. That kid really was smarter than he looked. I got up anyway, as soon as Martin left the room. I grabbed clean clothes that were getting way to small especially around my ever growing stomach. I turned on the steamy hot water and jumped in for a shower.

Once I got out, I dried off on threw on clean clothes. Well, they were as clean as they could possibly get when you're a pregnant teenage hybrid on the run. Walking out of the bath room, I saw that Fang was waiting to get in.

"Hey, I'll be in 1 of the other rooms. We'll wait for you to leave." I commented stupidly.

"Really? I was so hoping that my pregnant girlfriend would leave me to take care of a bunch of kids by herself." He noticed. I made a face and left the room. The hallway was empty and quiet. Nobody had thought of sleeping in the empty, free hotel.

This world should be chaos. Nobody was ruling it. People should be totally crazy. But, they weren't. It was weird. Except for the occasional estranged Taszie, people weren't being, well, people. But maybe hybrids didn't think like that. Maybe they really were doing things for the greater good. I hate to say it, but we would have to conduct experiments. Maybe these people were thinking the same way. I didn't want to admit it, but maybe they had a point. We would have to keep evolving our species. We don't know if hybrids evolve the way humans do. The 'yellow jackets' as Martin called them, had no right to put an experiment in a cage, but they weren't doing the totally wrong thing by conducting experiments. They weren't going about it the right way, but it was almost a good thing. I just unraveled almost an eternity of righteous thinking in a simple walk down the hallway.

"Hey, Ig. It's me, let me in." I pounded on Iggy's door. He was sharing a room with Gazzy and Charity. The door opened slowly and it was Martin who answered.

"Max, I think there's something wrong with Gazzy. He's all cold and isn't waking up." I pushed past the small boy and to the side of Gazzy's bed. The entire flock was crowded around the bed, disincluding Fang.

"Gazzy, talk to me. Please. Come on, Gaz. You've come way too far to leave us now." I practically yelled into his ear. I was tempted to smack his cheeks, like they do in the movies, but I resisted.

"Iggy, what's wrong with him?" I turned to the medical-wiz of the flock.

"His skin is cold. He has a high fever. He was complaining of a headache last night. He took some aspirin." Oh, God.

"You idiot! Gazzy's allergic to aspirin. Oh, God. I think there's an epipen in my room. The first aid kit is on the bed. Nudge, go get it, fast." I commanded and Nudge flew out of the room.

"Gazzy, hang in there." I need you! I wanted to yell so badly.

"Come on, Gaz. You're my brother, you're not allowed to leave. I need you." Angel was whispering into her big brother's ear, tears falling down her cheeks. I wanted to cry with her. Instead I grabbed Gazzy's hand and didn't let go. Not even when Nudge dragged fang into the room. Not even when Fang had stabbed the long needle into Gazzy's upper thigh. I didn't let go until Gazzy had finally woken up and and sitting in his bed. Angel was crying on his shoulder and I dropped his hand gently.

"Gaz, you know you're allergic to aspirin. What the hell would possess you to do that? You nearly gave me a heart attack. All that stress isn't good for the baby either." He looked so sorry when he heard that. I was practically in tears and I saw his eyes get blurry for a second, too.

"I don't know, Max. I'm sorry. My head hurt really bad. There was only aspirin and I didn't think it would almost kill me. The weird thing is, though, that when I was, like, almost dead, I saw this girl. She was really young and had gorgeous wings. They were almost pink, like a flamingo's. Then I heard Angel whispering to me. And a poke in my leg woke me up." Gabby, not the poke in the leg, or the whispering. The girl with the wings was Gabby, Iggy's long gone little sister. I did cry when he said that. He hugged me. The boy who almost just died was comforting me.

"I'm soooooo happy you're okay, Gazzy." Abbey said, hugging Gazzy. He squeezed her tightly and then gave his little sister a hug.

**End de chapter. I'll update more later. **


	4. Anarchy

_**Notes:**_** I got nothing. But, I'll have something to say if more people would review.**

Chapter 4: Anarchy

Max's POV

I wanted to stay for an extra night, just to make sure Gazzy was okay. Somehow, though, I was outvoted. I've raised these kids for years and suddenly it's a democracy? Na-uh.

"Okay, guys, we're staying an extra night. Gazzy, I want to make sure you're okay." I said looking at each of my new and considerably larger flock. Most of them shook their heads.

"What do you mean no? I'm in charge here." I said standing up.

"Max, he's fine. I think we should go. We have a world to save after all." Iggy said cooly. I gave him a wasted look.

"Iggy's right, Max. We need to go." Charity said, figures. There were murmurs of agreement ruffling through my group. I dropped my jaw in disbelief.

"Are you all disobeying a direct order? This isn't a democracy, it's a Maxocracy. You all know that. It always has been. You aren't disobeying me now, are you?" I stared disbelievingly at my flock.

"Yea, I guess we are. Sorry, Max. But we have to go." Rayne said. The others nodded.

"We have to get rid of this City before they get out of control. We need to get on the figurative throne. And soon." Fang said, looking at me. I rolled my eyes. Should I tell them my theory? I guess I don't have much of a choice.

"Guys, listen. What if this City isn't doing bad stuff? I mean, we all knew that if you want disease and stuff to get better, you need to experiment. That's obvious. Maybe they are doing bad things for the right reasons. Like that time that Iggy destroyed my favorite alarm clock to make a bomb to destroy the Erasers with. He did a bad thing for a good reason." Iggy smiled slyly. Fang shrugged and others followed his suit while some stayed motionless.

"Max has a point. We need medicine and stuff. They need to do experiments to make that stuff. I'd rather they test on humans than a poor innocent puppy or bunny or something." Abbey said patting Total's head for emphasis.

"Yea, I'd rather you tested on humans, too!" Total always had to add his 2 cents.

"Maybe we should just leave and try to talk to the people in the City." Ari suggested leaning against the door frame. I nodded.

"If we're leaving, then I'm deciding what we're doing," I demanded. I couldn't believe they 'over ruled' me. That wasn't how things worked around here. I guess I'd just have to do what Jeb said that one time and go with the flow, "We're going to the City. Now, let's leave." I might have been temperamental, but that's what being pregnant and over ruled does to you.

"Without breakfast?" Nudge asked according to character.

"Of course not. What the hell was I thinking? Leave without breakfast, my God. What's wrong with me? Forgive me for wanting to do what's best for the WORLD!" Okay, I was way out of line, "I'm sorry, Nudge. Of course we can have breakfast. What does everybody want?" I asked as tears sprung up in her eyes from the harshness of my voice. We ordered and sat in Iggy's room, eating mainly in silence. We'd eaten like that so often lately that it felt almost natural. We finished about 20 minutes later and got up to leave. Nobody wanted to piss me off more.

Soaring through the air navigating on a 3 year old's directions wasn't as much fun as it sounds. We flew for 15 minutes until Martin caught his bearings. Every now and then he'd point to a town and say 'there it is.' Then he'd change his mind.

We finally flew over a large area of city.

**Sorry about the shortness of this chapter, I'll update tomorrow, maybe. I have to clean a lot this week, so IDK when I'll be able to update.**


	5. The City

_**Notes: **_**still nothing.**

Chapter 5: The City

Max's POV

The city loomed below us like, well, a really big city below a bunch of flying mutant hybrids. I stared at the city and heard Rayne draw breath in sharply. For once, Nudge was silent.  
"You guys ready?" I looked around at my flock and smiled encouragingly. Nudge and Angel smiled back. We angled ourselves downward and landed gently on top of a huge building.  
"Martin, you can show us around, right?" I turned to the newest and youngest member of the flock. He nodded.

"Okay, let's go." I had a knot in my stomach the same size it was when Fang first kissed me. In the cave, not the beach episode. What if nobody listened? We had to try. Fang jumped lightly off the top of the building of I followed slightly more clumsily. The other followed me and we walked down the street, following Martin's guided tour.

"That's the head quarters, over the hill. Is that where we're going?" Marin asked pointing to a hill and the top of a steeple or something could just barely be seen over the top. I nodded and changed our direction. We climbed over hills and through buildings and such.

We finally arrived without whipping out our wings. I was tired and hungry, but we had a new challenge to face. A few Taszies were guarding the 'castle.' It really was a castle, or rather, more like a citadel or fortress. There were walls outside to keep people out. As if that would stop us. It was really old fashioned. Kind of cool looking, though. Martin walked straight up to the guards; he had courage for somebody so little.

"Hi, I'm Martin. I need to see Kaila, immediately. It's an emergency." Martin knew Kaila wasn't there, why did he say that? He must have known what he was doing, though, because the guards looked at us and nodded to the young boy. I looked back at them as we passed and made a nice-so-nice gesture at 1 of them.

We walked quickly through hallways filled with antisepticy smells and I almost gagged. I swear, my baby will never smell the smell that makes me want to strangle myself. We passed rooms filled with experiments upon experiments upon experiments. Some of the things I saw made me want to be sick and others were so sad that I wanted to cry. Again, though, it may have been my hormones. We finally reached a pair of solid oak French doors.

Martin didn't even bother knocking, he just walked right in.

"Kaila, I found these trespassers," with that word he glared menacingly at us, except me, "What do you want me to with them?" He asked. A chair at the huge desk turned and 1 of the prettiest people I've ever met. She looked about 4 years older than me, even though I knew she was just over 1 year older. Her hair was long and blonde and her eyes were the brightest green I've ever seen. Her smile was dazzling and I had to close my eyes from the glare of her teeth they were so white. But, why was Kaila here? I thought she was missing.

"Ah, flock, welcome. I'm so sorry we couldn't have you here sooner. Apparently, Martin ran into some trouble." She said in a voice that could easily persuade people. Looking at Martin he nodded and left the room with a low bow.

"As I'm sure you've figured out, I'm Kaila. I run the City. Martin is my second in command. He isn't 3. Not even close. He's 21. As am I. I know, we look very young for our age." She said summoning us forward, none of us moved.

"So, what are you planning?" When Kaila gave me a look of utter confusion, I continued, "Normally, when we're captured there's a routine. We're tricked and/or captured. We're taken to some evil facility where they conduct some sort of experiments. Then, as the villain/bad guy is telling us their plan we get a) inside help who causes a big commotion and we get out or b) my personal favorite, we discreetly get Total to chew through the ropes we're bound in. So, how about you tell us your plan and we'll get your ultimate doom over with, okay?" I asked Kaila. She smiled warmly and I grimaced. I wanted tp punch that perfectly shaped nose back into her face.  
"Ah, there's no need to be rude. I'll tell you my plan, but, if you think that you're going to beat me, then you're insane. So, no, I'm not an experiment, but I knew how to survive that magical war. Actually, you all helped. I used Fang's DNA from when Ari almost killed him that time on the beach. Don't worry, Fang, I no longer have your disgusting DNA in my body. You're here so that you can't be out there. I'm going to take over for you. Max, Fang, you're going to rule, but I'll be controlling you. The population will see you 2 doing very stupid things, such as ordering the execution of innocents," I could feel my face contorting in horror, "Martin!" Martin walked into the room, "Bring Max and Fang to their 'room,' and the others to the dungeon." She commanded and Martin led us back through the halls.

About 3 hours later, I had stopped pounding the walls in vain, but tears still streamed down my face. Fang was searching the walls for a way out and I was simply slumped on the floor. I had lost my voice from screaming so much.

"Max, don't worry. We will find a way out. There's a plan, there's always a plan. Come on, try to get some sleep." He helped me onto our bed and I rolled over, still crying, as thoughts of my flocks filled my head.

Nudge's POV

We were in a dungeon! That is so primitive. We've been captured before, but what was the random dungeon all about? I guess it kind of fit, since we were in a castle-thing. Max and Fang were somewhere directly above us. I heard Max screaming. Then I heard her sobbing. Now there's silence. We aren't even trying to get out, we know there isn't much hope. Maybe Fang, Max, or Iggy will think of something, I hope so. It's really cold down here.

**Sorry about the shortness. And about how long it took me to get up. Say thanks though, because I'm putting it up in school.**


	6. WOW!

**OMG! I'm sooooooo sorry, I got grounded. It doesn't matter if you hate me because after this chapter you will anyways. Yea it's extra long & EXTRA good to make up for its automatic 'hate Kailaocity.' And Kailaocity is now a word on my pc dictionary. And so is Nudgian. Anyways, I'll no longer hold you back from this VERY thrilling chapter of Maximum Ride: After the End of the World.**

Chapter 6: WOW!!!

Max's POV

My dreams that first horrifying first night were plagued by terrible images of my flock.

Nudge was standing beside me and tears were streaming down her gorgeous brown face. She was on my right. To my left was me baby, Angel. Total had his head buried in her shoulder and she was staring at me in horror. I looked from her to Nudge and finally settled my tired eyes on what Nudge was staring at. Straight ahead of me was 1 of the scariest and worst things I've ever seen. Rayne was kneeling on the floor next to a motionless Charity. Fang was fighting Kaila with blind Iggy as back up. That was _almost_ the whole flock. Everybody but Abbey, Gazzy, and Ari. Looking around the brightly lit room, I finally found them. Gazzy was in tight combat with… Abbey! Ari was mono-a-mono with Martin. I stood, shocked, as Abbey used Gazzy's ability to bend emotions against him. She basically turned every feeling in the room into hatred and used that hatred to slam Gazzy roughly against the wall maybe 50 ft behind him. Then she lunged skillfully at the defenseless Gasman.

"NO!!!" Angel attempted to push past me, but I held her back! She looked at me with tears in her eyes, but it was too late. Abbey had already pulled away from Angel's mind and was using her ability to control minds against Angel's own big brother. Abbey, apparently stronger than we thought, forced Gazzy to stand and threw him against the wall again at full force. He was immediately rendered unconscious. Angel was in tears and I didn't stop her when she carelessly ran to Gazzy. But, that may be because I was whaling on Nudge. We were in full out battle mode. She threw a punch at my face and I grabbed her fist. I sent my foot flying towards her stomach and she caught it. It went on for what seemed like hours, each of us landing very tiny victories here and there. But, after 1 fatal mistake, my big mouthed babe was clawing at my foot as it kept her pinned to the ground. She soon stopped struggling as the life seeped out of her. But, oddly, this terrible dream Max felt nothing, absolutely nothing. Not remorse, not pity, not even sadness. Nothing at all was felt by dream Max as I rounded on Fang. My boyfriend, second in command, the man I planned on marrying one day stared at me with understanding and utter sadness in his eyes.

He was completely surrounded as I, his 1 true love, cornered him into a wall. Kaila stepped up behind me and, together, we pounced on him like a cat pounces on a mouse. Except there were 2 cats and only 1 mouse. We left him laying motionless on the floor, his blood staining the ground beneath him as it oozed out of deep gashes on either side of his body.

Kaila turned and marched to the 3 remaining flock members. Martin had long ago taken down Ari. Rayne, Angel, and Iggy remained.

"Good job, you have done your jobs well," Kaila said to the 4 of us. We all smiled, basking in her praise, "Now, Max, you can do what you want, as long as you stay in the City. You 3 are free to go." Then I woke up.

I was in a cold sweat, but to my surprise, I hadn't woken up Fang. What had been the worst part of my dream? My now swollen belly had been flat and toned. I had been able to feel the muscle rippling under my skin. I instinctively felt my stomach, almost to make sure the baby was still there. She kicked gently, almost telling me to go back to sleep. I knew that would take a while.

I rolled over so I could see Fang's face. How could I feel nothing in my dream? I loved my flock SO much, it was impossible to conceive. I remembered the dream, the power and adrenaline that had been coursing through my veins. No, bad Max, I can't think like that. I was once told that power wouldn't corrupt me, but it had corrupted dream Max. Dream Max had been corrupted with power in almost all of my dreams in Antarctica. I couldn't become like that, I'd end up like Hitler or Fidel Castro. No way would I let that happen. I couldn't wait to wrap my fingers around Kaila's perfectly tanned neck.

"Ah ah ah, Maxie. You'll never get those grubby and disgustingly dirty fingers around this neck. And you felt nothing in that dream, dearest Maxie, because you were an upgraded you. Like Omega only… better." Kaila's persuasive voice boomed over an intercom. Had I been talking out loud? I didn't think so, so I went with the more logical idea.

"Can you hear my thoughts or something, slut?" I yelled at a wall and Fang bolted upright next to me. Kaila laughed a sickly sweet laugh.

"Of course, silly. I know everything you think, say, or do from now on." Even the way she talked made her sound 17. I rolled my eyes.

"You're so original," I turned to Fang, "They can never use any new material or, hell, even something that isn't totally clichéd can they?" He was still a little groggy and shrugged. Then he stretched his huge biceps and yawned loudly, playing bored with the whole captive thing.

"Oh, Fang. You can't get out of here. I know what you're thinking, too. You don't think I'd give your girlfriend special treatment, do you?" Kaila cackled wickedly and the intercom disconnected.

"Yea, I was hoping that they'd give you special treatment," Fang murmured quietly and I smiled, "Its okay, Max. We will find the kids and escape, somehow." Fang wrapped his arms around me and dropped a kiss on my forehead. I smiled, thinking back to when we were at Anne's. Still a hell hole, but at least we had been able to see each other. Fang and I had been awkward, to say the least, now I was pregnant with his baby. Fang noticed my smiled and asked me what I was thinking about.

"Remember Anne's? When I thought I was turning into an Eraser? I told you to take care of me if you had to. I was really angry at you. You were dating the Red Haired Wond- I mean Lissa and I was, well, jealous. But, I wouldn't take that back. Wings, Red Haired Wonder, Sam, Anne, I loved it all, in a strange way." I gently nudged his shoulder with mine and he tapped it back and smiled.

"Yea, I love you too. I guess." He joked.

"You guess?" I raised my eyebrows playfully at him, "You got me pregnant and you guess you love me? Good, because I'm not in love with you," I tease, I swear, "I love…" I did mental eenie meenie minie mo in my head and chose a flock member, "Iggy." I shot him this 'ha, beat that punk' face and Fang mocked anger.

"Could this change your mind?" He asked and kissed me passionately. I pulled away just long enough to tell him that it helped. We didn't break apart until the intercom snapped back to life.

"Yo, lovebirds! Hate to break up this totally touching scene, but you have some visitors." Kaila snapped and the door burst open. 9 people I thought I'd never see again came in.

"MAX! FANG!" Abbey yelled and ran into my out stretched arms.

"Omigod! How'd you guys get here? Are you okay? Is anybody hurt?" I asked my flock as I pulled them into an embrace 1 by 1. Iggy resisted but eventually gave in. Angel and Abbey both had tears running down their face and even though he'd never admit it, Gazzy's puffy eyes gave away the fact that he had been crying recently.

"I think I know how we could escape-" Iggy began, but Fang stopped him.

"Not now, Ig. Kaila can hear mine and Max's thoughts. It won't work." Fang said as we all squeezed onto our full size mattress. I fully inspected everybody and we layed down to talk. At some point hours later, we all fell asleep.

My head was on Fang's chest, and the younger girls and Total were using my belly as a pillow. Iggy was sprawled across our legs, holding tightly to Charity. Gazzy was tucked in between his sister and his partner in crime. Ari was using my pillow, with his feet on the head board, he was practically upside down.

In the morning, not only were my knees extremely sore, but we had breakfast waiting for us.

"Kaila?" I shouted to a random wall in front of me. I shoved my 3rd bagel into my mouth and chewed rapidly.

"Yes, Maxie?" That nickname really pissed me off.

"For prisoners you're treating us pretty well. Why?" I asked as another waffle, at least my 5th, discovered my stomach.

"Ha ha ha," her overly sweet laugh rang through out the room, "Only the best for the 'rulers' of the world." I rolled my eyes and decided that the evil woman's food tasted pretty good. As we ate, the kids told me and Fang all about the dungeons. My jaw was so low by the end of the talk that it nearly hit the floor.

"And there weren't any windows! It was really cold, too." Nudge finally finished her winded explanation of the dungeon far below where I sat.

"Okay, you know your flock is fine. They're leaving, now." Kaila's voice interrupted.

"As if. Have you done any of your flock research, crazy lady?" I snidely remarked. The door to our white room barged open and experiments you'd never think of ran in.

One had a dorsal fin. 2 had long fangs, 1 had black stripes, like a tiger. I even had long ears, just like a rabbit's! Then there were a few Taszies. And, for old time's sake, 3 Erasers. Angel screamed at the sight and Total growled ferociously.

"Fight 'em off guys!" I said in a 'been there, done that' tone. My fist connected with a Taszie's face almost immediately. He moved his hands to his face and Nudge did a front flip, used that momentum, and came out with a kick to his stomach. We high fived and turned to the others. Fang was fighting the 1 with a dorsal fin and winning. Gazzy was skillfully attacking 2 Erasers, with Ari as back up. Iggy and Charity were working side by side to take out the one's with the fangs. Abbey was pounding the tiger guy to a pulp, and Angel had turned Mr. Bunny Man on himself. Rayne had taken on 2 Taszies and I pushed Nudge in his direction to go help him. As she ran to his aid, I turned to face the last Eraser. It was a girl! I mean, it was only a matter of time, but still a shocker.

I snapped back to reality as soon as her foot made contact with, you guessed it, my stomach. You know the thing that I was carrying baby Ella in.

Everything around me became slow motion then, like in the movies, except I was panicking instead of watching from the comfort of my bed. I hit the floor and tears immediately leapt to life on my face. Fang defeated the shark guy with 1 last _angry_ blow and ran to my side.

"Max! Are you okay? The baby! Is the baby okay?" Fang asked. My mind was still in slow motion, so I had trouble understanding him. I felt my eyes bulge to the size of saucers as Kaila easily walked towards us amongst all the fighting.

"Ah, Maxie, your baby. I believe you've just miscarried." Kaila said pointing in between my legs. I looked and sure enough there was a small puddle of blood. Kaila was right, I'd miscarried mine and Fang's first baby. Fang gripped my hand tightly, kissed my hair, and lunged at Kaila. She easily ducked. That was the last thing I saw before my whole world went blank.

I woke up hours, maybe days, later. My face was moist with tears and an extremely teary eyed flock was staring at me from different spots in the room. We were definitely still in the City, but a different room.

"Max, I'm so sorry." Nudge was, of course, the first to speak. Then, I immediately noticed 2 things.

"Where's Fang?" I asked as panic crept into my voice.

"Max," Iggy began, "Fang is in the hospital. After you… you know, Fang was fighting Kaila. He was doing really well too, until Ari attacked him." That was the 2nd thing. Ari wasn't with us either.

"He'll be okay, Max. Iggy and I both gave him blood. Nudge wanted to, but I didn't let her." Charity told me. He needed blood? It was a total repeat of the beach episode. I was speechless. No Fang, no baby, I had no point.

"Maxie, your beloved Fang will be fine. Yes, you do have a point. Don't go all suicidal just because you miscarried. It happens to the best of us." Kaila's voice was teeming with jerkiness.

"Max, why did your tummy go flat? And what does miscarried mean? Angel asked. For a minute I was reminded of the fact that she was only 7.

"Well, you know how I was going to have a baby?" Abbey nodded, "I'm not anymore." The 2 youngest were so upset. Tears streamed down their faces and it made me want to cry. Angel wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed, tight.

**IDK when I'll be able to update next. R&R for the next chapter. And I'm sorry, but it was the right thing to do, I'm sorry.**


	7. Fang and Kaila?

**Yay, I'm excited to get all these chapters written. I'm going to need more input though, okay? Anyways, here ya go:**

Chapter 7: Fang and Kaila?

Max's POV

"Maxie, would you like to see Fang? He needs more blood." My blood curdled at the sound of Kaila's voice, but the thought of seeing Fang uncurdled it. I nodded and stood up as 2 Taszies came in to get me. We had been trapped in this hell hole for almost 2 days and I hadn't heard 1 word about Fang. I left with them, excitement bubbling in my body.

"I'll tell him everybody says hi," I told everybody sitting in the room as I left "And, Iggy's in charge." I added as an after thought.

On the long walk, I thought about when I got pregnant. We had been in the research facility for about a week and Fang and I decided to explore. No, not each other, you perverts, just the area. We found a bottle of vodka and stashed it for later. Needless to say, if any of the flock had been awake that night, maybe they could have told me what happened. All I know is in the morning I had a killer hangover, empty vodka bottle, naked Fang in bed, and a shocked Charity standing in the door frame. I shivered, remembering that morning. It had been loud, tragic, and kind of funny at the same time. Neither me nor Fang could remember anything, so we decided to forget it happened, except 9 months later, when I'd be due. We decided to wait to have sex, and remember it. If any of that made any sense.

I walked into the hospital and held back my gasp when I saw Fang. He was asleep. I had always loved to watch him sleep; I liked to watch the whole flock sleep. I wanted to turn and run this time. I slowly made my way to him anyway and picked up his pale and cold hand.

"Ma-Max?" His voice fit his pale look perfectly.

"Yea, baby, I'm here. How are you feeling?" I wiped a tear out of my eye and looked at him. I wanted to jump on top of him and hug him so hard when he said he'd never felt better. It was a bad lie, but I was grateful for it.

"Everybody says, hi, feel better, and they all send their love." I relayed the flock's message and stroked his hand.

"Max, we lost the baby, didn't we?" He didn't need to ask, he knew it but I answered him anyway.

"Yea, we did," I said with a nod, no longer bothering to wipe away the tears. I was crying so much they were practically coming out of my nose. (A/N: Yea, that's from legally blonde the musical, sorry, back to the story) Then, to my complete shock, Fang did cry. Well, a little anyway. He wiped away the tears quickly so I didn't see them, but I did, "Maybe this was a sign. Maybe it meant we weren't ready. We're only 15. I mean, we're constantly on the run. You can't raise a kid like that." I was sobbing harder and harder with every word I said. Fang simply shook his head.

"You know we could have. We basically raised Angel. She's fine." He said weakly. Yea, the 6 year old mind controller, Angel had turned out SO well. I rolled my eyes and gave him a trademarked Max look.

"Max, Fang needs more blood," A woman with cat ears said, carefully approaching me and Fang, "Could you give him some?" I nodded and sat on the stool she pointed me too.

I hate needles. We had blood work and tests concerning needles daily at the School. They skeeved me out. She pricked my upper arm with a needle and I cringed remembering the days in the School. A few minutes later, I returned to Fang slightly woozy and a little lighter. The woman followed us and pushed a few bottles of my blood into his IV.

"Is it possible for us to talk to Kaila?" I felt Fang's eyes staring at me like I was crazy when I asked the question. Maybe I was, but I needed to ask her a few things.

"She's actually on her way to talk to you 2, in private." My stomach churned over the last 2 words.

"Maxie, Fang!" Oh, God. I turned and watched as Kaila approached us confidently.

"Let's got 1 thing straight, okay? I really, really, REALLY hate being called that, k?" I snapped maybe too harshly.

"Fine, geez. Fang, you walk yet?" She sweetly asked Fang. He nodded weakly and began to push himself up, "Let's go to my office," She leaned closer as I helped Fang up, "No cameras." I nodded my understanding and, with Fang leaning heavily on me, we left the infirmary.

I walked in and I immediately wanted to run. This was a different office than I had seen before. It was pink. Everything in her office was PINK. What a great villain.

"Sit down." Kaila said and practically pushed us into fluffy pink armchairs.

"What's this all about? If it's about Jeb, or anybody, I don't want to hear it, okay? I've heard too many lies already." My voice was strong and edged with steel, the way Jeb had taught me.

"Okay, I'm not the horrible person I've led you to think I am," I rolled my eyes, "No, really. Tonight, I'm helping you all escape," Fang and my eyes widened to the size of saucers, "Seriously. No tricks, no games. I promise. Tonight, I'll say I want to run some last tests," We cringed, "Once we get out there, you're all free to go. Honest." She finished.

"We've been betrayed a lot. How do I know that you won't kill us immediately?" Fang asked, even though I knew he was seriously considering trusting her.

"You can't be, I guess. But, this is your only hope. This place is virtually escape proof. Martin will see you out of the City, then you're on your own," Sounded simple enough, "Don't mention it to the flock because I can't get your mikes turned off, that'd look suspicious. You're thoughts can no longer be seen, though. Can you pack inconspicuously, Max?" I nodded. I had mastered that art long ago, "Okay, I'll retrieve Fang from the hospital around midnight, okay?" She clarified our plans.

"Why so late and in the dark?" Fang asked suspiciously.

"So you can escape in the dark, nobody will see you that way. I'll say I want to test your night vision." She stated simply, like it was obvious. It made sense. She showed me back to my room and I kissed Fang goodbye. I walked into an ambush, figuratively.

"MAX!" A chorus from angels, well kids with wings, went through the room. I hugged everybody. Except Iggy, who I high fived instead.

"Is Fang okay?" Rayne asked me. He looked so tired, everybody did.

"Yea, he'll be fine." I told them and the whole room exhaled together.

**Sorry, you're going to have to wait until at least Monday for the next chapter. Winter formal is tomorrow, and then I'm at my dad's all weekend. R&R!!!!!!!!!!**


	8. Escape

**Sorry it took me forever to put up. R&R if you want to make me feel better. : ) shortened days wake up at your normal time extra CHAPTERS!!!**

Chapter 8: Escape

Max's POV

I spent the whole day shoving articles of clothing and the few cans we had into backpacks. And crying. I spent a good 4 of the 7 hours crying.

"Guys, try and get some sleep. I'll stay on watch." I told the flock around 7 pm. Everybody nodded and squished onto the bed for a much needed nap. I talked to myself and finished packing. What's that saying? You're not crazy until you answer yourself?

I shoved the last few things into Iggy's backpack as Kaila walked in. Trying not to smile, I looked at her with complete distaste.

"Hello Max. I want to run a few tests. Can you wake the flock?" She wasn't a bad actress. I played my role well and shot her a glare, but walked over to the flock anyway.

"Guys, come on. Kaila wants to run a few tests. Up and at 'em." I gently nudged the flock awake. While they were grumbling and complaining I shrugged on my and Fang's backpacks.

"There's no need to bring your bag." Oh, snap! Come on Max, think of a lie.

"We always bring our backpacks." Iggy offered. Remind me to thank him later. I gave Fang a small hug and the other followed my example.

The walk to the yard was long. We passed empty halls, sleeping experiments, and a few experiments that were still working.

In the last few days I've seen every combination of genetics you could possibly think of. And a lot you'd just think of in horror movies.

We finally burst through a pair of double doors and cold night air immediately slapped me in the face. I exhaled slowly and saw my breath 6 inches in front of my face.

"Okay, this it it. Go." Kaila said once we had passed a small grove of trees.

"What? You're helping us escape? Not that I'm arguing." Poor Gazzy. We couldn't tell them anything.

"Yea, I'll explain later," I watched the flock take off. Fang's takeoff was sloppy and a little slow, "Will you be okay Kaila?" I turned to the villain- turned- good right before I took off.

"I'll be fine. Just go before they come out," I spread out my wings, "Oh Wait! These are for you. One's from me and one's from Jeb. Read mine first, it'll answer a question or 2." She pressed 2 envelopes into my hand. I thanked and took off.

"Goodbye! And thank you!" Nudge yelled as I met the flock and pushed us towards where Washington D.C. used to be.

"What happened back there?" Iggy asked, nay demanded.

"Kaila helped us escape. She probably sacrificed herself for us," Great, another death on our behalf to add to the list, "What happened to Ari?" Just saying his name hurt. The flock exchanged quick glances and I knew something was very wrong. Well, more wrong than normal anyway, "What happened to Ari?" I repeated myself and Fang looked over at me.

"I'm sorry Max. It was me or him. He attacked me. I didn't have a choice. I'm sorry." Fang began. I knew what happened. Ari was dead. For good this time? I've killed him before and so has his expiration date. But Jeb isn't here to save him this time. I stared straight ahead, not listening to the flock's constant consolations.

"Hotel or clearing guys?" Fang was taking charge for me.

"Hotel." Was the basic group response. He gently guided us down towards an abandoned hotel. Not bothering to tuck in our wings fully, we walked in and Charity grabbed 4 room keys. Her name is kind of ironic. Charity means, like, being nice to people and always do the right thing. Here she is, swiping room keys and she used to steal food. Just wanted to share that.

"Me and Max, Iggy and Charity are definite. Who wants to room with whom after that?" Fang took control again.

"I don't care." Rayne said.

"Okay, girls in 1 room, guys in the other. Is that okay?" Iggy asked as Charity handed out room keys. We walked up stairs and separated at each door. I sat down on our bed and Fang sat down a few feet away from me. We sat in our first awkward silence, until my sniffles intruded.

"Can we talk?" Fang asked, moving closer.

"No, it was either you or him, I get it. You chose you. But, he was my half brother." I had nothing else to say on that subject.

"Yea, but he attacked me. I wasn't going to let him kill me." Fang said.

"I said, I understand. I can still be upset though. My boyfriend killed my half brother after all!" I was starting to get mad.

"Well, I get that. You're just upset. Sit down," I hadn't realized I stood up. I slowly sat down on the bed, "Max, I'm sorry. We're both upset. It's understandable. We DID loose the baby." He rubbed a spot in between my wings. Fang knew I loved that.

"Yea. You're so lucky you weren't there when I explained what had happened to Abbey and Angel." I hoped to never see their faces so sad again.

"Max, we were made for each other, you know that." Fang got up to stand in front of me so he could look me in the eye. I nodded, it was true. We really were a perfect fit. He wiped away my tears with his thumb.

"I love you but-" Fang cut me off.

"Nope, no buts. You're meant to rule the world with me at your side. With or without Ari or a baby. Smile, now, please?" He begged. After a few minutes of furious tickling, he finally won.

"Happy, now? I'm tired. Can we go to sleep?" I asked. Before he could give me an answer, I laid down on the bed.

He curled up around me and I realized how truly a perfect fit we were. It was like a puzzle. My body fit into his perfectly.

"I'm sorry, Max." I distantly heard Fang whisper right before I drifted in la-la land.

**DUN DUN DUN!!!! Was Fang apologizing because of Ari, or was it something else? I guess you will all find out in the next chapter. R&R, PLEASE: )**


	9. Letters the Sequel

**YO! Just R&R, okay? Oh, and nobody ever guessed who Martin and Kaila were named after so I guess I'll tell ya. Martin I chose after Martin Luther King Jr. because he was originally going to be a good guy. And Kaila is my name. ******** Kudos to anyone who 'guessed' that in their heads.**

Chapter 9: Letters-the Sequel

Max's POV

I woke up early the next morning and carefully untangled myself from Fang's arms. Slipping my hand into my bag next to the bed, I drew out the 2 envelopes that Kaila had given me. I slowly slit open the 1 that said _To Max-Kaila _on the front and began reading.

_Dear Maximum Ride,_

_It was so great to finally meet the legendary Maximum Ride. I'm sorry we couldn't meet for who I really was. I began the City as a place where runaway experiments, like the flock, could come to. I offered them food, shelter, and work in exchange for peace. But, I wasn't as great a leader as you. I couldn't control them by myself and they began experimenting on each other. First, it was only vision, hearing, smelling improvements. Then it became more in depth. DNA mixing, IQ, muscle enhancement, things white coats do. I tried to stop them, I really did. I even called in an old friend, Jeb Batchelder, but neither of us could do a thing._

_Jeb gave me a letter to give you about a year ago. I've never read it, don't worry._

_If you're reading this, it means I didn't escape. They probably figured I helped you escape and killed me. Do not come back and try to save me. You 9 are way too important. The world needs you all. 1 human isn't worth losing this battle, trust me. Don't go back to the City, ever._

_I'm sorry about your baby._

_You're all in my thoughts,_

_Kaila_

They killed her? Kaila, who wasn't evil, then was, then wasn't, was dead. I had to go help, no. The letter said to stay here. Maybe I should listen, for once. Instead, I picked up Jeb's letter and stared at the familiar chicken scratch before I began reading it.

_Dearest Max,_

_You've never been that bright, have you? You always fell for every trap I've ever set the flock up for. Max, Max, Max, didn't I ever tell you not to listen to the voice in your head? Well, you shouldn't have. Now, you're as doomed as Gabby. Yes, little Gabby. So sweet and innocent. She was supposed to save the world, not you. You were simply the second best. Everybody knew Gabby would succeed. She had to be taken care of. You're next._

_If Ari's with you that means Fang isn't. One less under achiever to deal with. _

_And if Fang is there, there's 1 less complete failure in the world._

_Even if I'm not still alive, I have friends. Mutant friends. They'll find you, don't worry. They'll kill the flock slowly and painfully and make you watch. Your beloved Fang will be the worst. Maybe Angel. _

_Maybe a few things still aren't clear in that brain of yours. Yes, Dr. Martinez and I are your parents. You have 4 siblings. I'm sure you've met Charity and Rayne by now. Ari was never a good guy, neither was I._

_Maximum, what a stupid name. Maximum what? Maximum failure? That's fitting. Anyway, Maximum, you will be dying shortly after you read this. Use those powers to the best of your ability, while you can. Break a leg, literally._

_The One and Only,_

_Jeb Batchelder_

I stared at the letter, processing for minutes. This was a joke, it had to be. I read through the letter again once, twice, 3, 4 times. By the 5th time, I decided that it was from him and my uncontrollable sobs immediately woke up Fang.

"Max, what's wrong?" He asked, concern etching his 15 year old face. I shook my head and handed him Kaila's letter. He read it and nodded.

"We expected a lot of that. Can I read the other one?" Before I could answer, he had snatched Jeb's letter out of my hand. He read it through many times, his eyes quickly darting form side to side.

"No. This letter is bull." He stated simply.

"Nope, Kaila said Jeb gave it to her to give to me personally. It's true." My up and coming death seemed to taunt me as I said that.

"Max, I'll protect you, no matter what. Together we'll protect the rest of the flock. Nobody is going to hurt a hair on their heads." He said, kissing my hair.

"Fang, he killed Gabby and she was even more powerful than me. We don't stand a chance. But, we're NOT going with out a fight." I decided as adrenaline began to pump through my body. Then, I heard a scream from next door. Fang hit the door about 1/100 of a second before me, just as a bunch of experiments filed into the room that the girls were staying in.

Instincts kicked in and I punched, kicked, bit, and clawed my way to them.

"You 3 okay?" I asked Nudge, Abbey, and Angel as the side of the hand made contact with a something's neck. They nodded, too busy to respond at the moment.

I loved to watch the flock fight. We were impressive.

"DUCK!" Gazzy yelled and I hit the floor. I just want 1 incident that didn't include a narrow escape, a bomb, or me yelling. Bits of experiments and furniture hit the collapsing walls around us and I covered my head.

"Report!" I bellowed a few minutes later after all the debris had stopped falling.

"I'm okay." Rayne said, crawling out from under the destroyed remnants of the bed.

"I twisted my ankle," Nudge said, "But, I'll live." She wisely added.

"Ouch." Charity said. She had a fat lip, but would take care of that in no time.

"I'm fine." Abbey said from a few feet away.

"Eh, I've been better." Fang answered quietly from near the door.

"Let's NOT do that again." Total yipped from Angel's arms.

"I second that emotion." Angel said.

"I think I broke my nose." Iggy's hands were clutching his nose and blood seeped through. I walked over and studied it.

"Charity, can you come heal Iggy's nose?" I asked to my sister who walked over. She nodded and gently placed her finger tips on Iggy's nose. A spark flitted from her finger tips and more followed it. They ran up and down the bridge of Iggy's nose and mended broken spots. Once it was done, Charity admired her work happily.

"There. All better." Charity said.

"Thanks." Iggy replied evenly.

After that, we packed up quickly. About 15 minutes later, we had left and were flying randomly east.

**BAM! Aviator, I hope it's obvious who's still holding all the cards now. Even from the grave, Jeb causes the flock pain. I know, I'm evil aren't I? Please, please, please, please, PLEASE R&R if you like this story, please?**


	10. Proposals and HUH?

**I'm ba-ack! BTW, I'm now a betareader so send me your stories, okay? I'd love to edit your fanfics. I'm already doing one for Birds of Prey and Harry Potter. I really want to do a Maximum Ride one, though. Does anybody know who wrote Bird of Prey? PM/Review me if you do, okay? And if this chapter doesn't get a review from every FAX lover that reads this story, then I seriously quit. This chapter is so WOW it deserves like 40 reviews. : ) And in response to an anonymous review submitted by somebody who signed it me(of corse), it just seemed to fit. Jeb needed to be evil, it fit my plot. ******

Chapter 10: Proposals and HUH?

Max's POV

"Max? I've been thinking," God, Nudge really needed to stop doing that, "Well, we're going to need an army, right? We're going to need someplace to train that army. We're also going to need some_body_ to train them. What are we going to do?" She did have a point. A good one, too.

"I have an idea, but you're not going to like it." Total stuck his head out of the carrier on Iggy's back. I rolled my eyes but figured I'd humor him anyway.

"What's your idea, Total?" I asked the talking shape shifter.

"Anne's. Think about it. She isn't there and it's a HUGE house with a very large property. We'd have plenty of room for a shelter and training." What a great idea! Sense my sarcasm, people.

"Total…" I planned on letting the dog down gently. His feelings seemed to get hurt easily.

"No. That's a fabulous idea," Fang began and when I gave him a 'where's your brain' look he continued, "No, seriously. Hear me out. Her property is ginormous and we are going to need a huge place to train even a medium sized army. We can build more shelters on the surrounding area. We could even split up to do the training and rescuing. Half of us can train, while the other half recruits." There were a few surprises in Fang's speech. One, I thought he'd never want to go back to Anne's, EVER. Two, he's actually agreeing with Total. And three, he looked ready to kiss Total for giving him the idea. Oh, and that was a long speech for Fang, even for me.

"He has a point." Gazzy said and basically everybody agreed. I rolled my eyes. What didn't these children understand? I really rule my flock under a Maxocracy.

"This isn't a democracy! I make our decisions. How many times do I have to tell you? I rule with a Maxocracy." I snarled to my flock. For a second they looked dismayed, but quickly got over it.

"Please, Max? Remember how totally beautiful it was there?" My baby begged. If it were possible to get down on her knees while flying, she would have. Then to make it worse, her and Nudge went all Bambi eyes on me. I HATE Bambi eyes.

"Fine, Anne's place it is." I muttered in submission. The flock behind me high fived and punched the air. The newer members looked excited to see where we had once lived. I banked steeply to the right and continued flying.

15 minutes later of cheer, and evil glares courtesy of moi, we landed softly on what had once been lush, soft, green grass. Yup, we had arrived at Fang's mom's house. Or the she-devil's pit of hell, if you prefer. We carefully walked up the dead grass to the front door. I stood on the same spot where that cretin, Sam, had once kissed me. Iggy soundlessly pushed open the door and we cautiously walked inside. When nothing ambushed or jumped out at us, I began a guided tour of the large estate.

Afterwards, the younger kids wandered off to visit the pond. Me, Fang, Charity, and Iggy sat at the table where we had once had our Thanksgiving feast. I rummaged through some drawers until a found 2 pieces of paper and a pen. Sitting back down, we began to discuss plans.

"Who's going to room with whom?" Iggy asked as I wrote_ roomies_ on top of 1 page. Then, I wrote Max and Fang on 1 line and Ig and Char on the 1 below it.

"Who said I wanted to room with Iggy? I want to stay with the girls." Charity asked pointing to what I had written. My eye brows furrowed in confusion.

"We broke up last night. We're still friends though." Iggy clarified for those who were out of the loop. Fang raised his eye brows and I looked from Charity to Iggy and back again in surprise. Charity nodded and I crossed out the names I had written.

"Okay… Boys and girls? It'll be cramped, but we're going to need the space." I decided and wrote Char, Nudge, Ange, and Abbey on 1 line. Directly underneath it I wrote Ig, Gaz, and Rayne.

"Who's willing to stay? I want to of us and 3 of the younger kids to stay and train. And Total," I added. They all shrugged nonchalantly, "Okay, fine," I said huffily, "Who's the best fighter, other than me because I'm definitely rescuing," Charity and Iggy pointed to Fang while he pointed to Iggy, "Okay, Fang you need to rest up anyway. You're on training duty. I want Angel here and Nudge with me," I was writing all this down, "That leaves Char, Ig, Gaz, Abbey, and Rayne. Charity, you want to go where ever Rayne goes, right?" She nodded, "Okay and Ig, answer honestly. Do you want to do rescue or training?" I asked the blind kid sitting next to me. Iggy sat deep in thought for a few minutes, opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again. I patiently waited for him to answer. Finally noise came out of his mouth.

"I'd rather do rescue, but either is fine by me." Iggy answered. I nodded, more for my benefit because he couldn't see, and wrote Iggy under _rescue_.

"Okay, is that cool with you, Char?" I asked my slightly younger half sister. She nodded, probably excited for a short break.

"Okay, so I'm staying here with Charity, Rayne, Angel, and Abbey?" Fang asked me and I nodded.

"And me, Max, Nudge, and Gazzy will do search and resue. We'll bring back any willing mutants and you 5 can train them." Iggy said. Of course we'd help with the training, we all had different powers and would need to help those who shared powers.

"Okay, we leave in 2 days." I made our departure final. There were hesitant nods around the table. Nobody wanted to say goodbye. But, if this was going to get done, I'd make sure it was done right.

"I'll get the others. We need to have a meeting," Charity said and walked to the screen door, "Guys! Meeting, come on!" Did I mention she had, like, a sonic voice? It echoed through the house and a minute later, the flock appeared.

"What's going on?" Gazzy asked as everybody took a seat around us.

"You guys aren't going to like it." Iggy began, but I cut him off.

"Ig, let me handle this, okay? It's about this whole training and rescuing thing. Sorry, but we've made the decisions. Abbey, Angel and Rayne, you're all staying here with Charity and Fang. Me, Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy are rescuing," There was a short pause then a random collection of grumbles and cheers, "Deal with it, okay?" Nobody in the room was stupid enough to complain to my face.

"Good, rest up. You 4 leave in 2 days," Fang said and everybody left the kitchen, leaving me and Fang alone, "So, we split up again, huh? It seems like we're always saying goodbye."

"I hate saying goodbye, especially to you, but this is the best for the world. We need to have a great fighter training and 1 recruiting. I hate leaving all of you, but it'll only be a few hours at the most." I told him. It was true, plus he needed to get some rest. He nodded his understanding.

"Max, I need to ask you something," Fang said, took hold of my hands, and… got down on… 1 knee! "Maximum Ride, I want to be with you for the rest of our lives. You're the most amazing person I've ever known. I love you more than I thought it was possible, more than you could possibly understand. You're already my girl friend, the person who will be the mother of my children, and the only person I ever want to be with again. Maximum Ride, will you be my wife?" Fang slipped a very tiny diamond onto my ring finger. I stared at him in shock. What do I say?

**DUN DUN DUN!!! No, I'm joking, I couldn't leave you there, that'd be the meanest thing I've ever done. On the other hand…nah, I'll continue.**

"Fang, wow. I love you so much. I really, really do," he had TOTALLY flabbergasted me, "Fang, I can't marry you. I'm sorry." I took off the beautiful diamond ring and dropped it in his out stretched palm. Then, being me, I ran out the door.

I took off to calls of 'Max! Come Back! I'm Sorry!' and the bewildered gazes of my flock, even Iggy's head was turned in my direction. Immediately going into hyper drive, I flew to the place I once longed to flee. The school. No, not the 1 with the white coats. The 1 with JJ, Sam, and Pruitt. I landed on the roof after about 30 seconds of impossible speed. Landing very ungracefully, I sunk to my knees and cried.

"I quit. I fucking quit! I give up!" I yelled at the darkening sky, "These tests are so cruel and unusual. If this is a test. And I'd like to know why I said no?" the last part was more of a barely audible whisper.

I loved Fang. That was why I couldn't marry him. Only grief can come from so much love. I had loved Dr. Martinez and Ella and my baby, look what happened to them. No, only bad things happened when Maximum Ride loved something. It was impossible anyway. Those idiots at Itex had never set us up with birth certificates.

I cried even harder. It wasn't just the fact that I had refused Fang's proposal, even though that didn't help. I had lost my baby, my family, and now probably my boyfriend. Jeb really was a good for nothing, back stabbing, cheating liar. My mom, half sister, and half brother were dead. Iggy was blind for Christ's sake! My boyfriend was attacked by my half brother, and then killed him.

I laughed, really loudly. If you don't understand why, maybe you should reread that last paragraph. All the irony in my life was going to cause my death. I was still crying harder than ever, but laughing at the same time.

Hours later, my sobs and hysterics had died down to only sniffles. I wiped my nose on my sleeve and walked to the edge of the roof.

What would it feel like to jump, wings tucked in? No, the flock needs you too much. You keep them together. Instead, I jumped off and snapped out my 13 foot wings. I slowly made my way 'home,' drying my eyes as I went.

Luckily, when I got there, there was a window left open. Unluckily, Fang had left it open for me, knowing I couldn't leave. I didn't know this though until I had landed quietly inside the room.

"Hey." He said in his old monotonous, void of emotion voice. This might be worse than I thought. I surrendered and lifted up my hand as a greeting.

Charity's POV

Iggy sensed me near by and called me over.

"Char, come here. I need to talk to you." It was a good thing at this moment that he was blind; I didn't want anybody to see the look of bewilderment on my face. Since we broke up last night, he had barely spoken. I walked into the room he pointed to and sat down on the bed.

"Max is still gone isn't she?" I asked him once he had situated himself in the chair across the room. Fang had told Iggy everything, Angel read his mind, and she told the rest of the flock. I was worried; she'd been gone for 3 hours. He nodded.

"Yea. Don't worry though. Max is a big girl, she can handle herself. That's not why I called you in here, though. I'm really sorry about last night. You were right, I was being an egotistical sexist pig," He had asked me, his GIRLDFRIEND, to describe what Max looked like, "Can you please forgive me?" I nodded then remembered he was blind. I walked over and picked up his hand instead.

"Of course I can, Ig. It's just… I don't know. I was jealous, I guess. I love you, you know that. I could and will forgive you for just about anything. But, there's already too much drama. Maybe we shouldn't get back together, not now anyway. I'm sorry." I dropped the hand of the man I loved and walked out of the room, leaving Iggy sitting there with only an empty room for company.

Fang's POV

Max would come back soon. She wouldn't leave the flock. No matter how much she hated me, she loved them too much.

So, I left a window open and waited for her. Sure enough 4 hours later, a sad, crying Max swooped in through the window.

Max's POV

"Max, why'd you run? If you didn't want to marry me, that is all you had to say." Fang's voice was flat and emotionless.

"Fang, I love you. I really do, but we can't get married. Not yet anyway. There's too much going on." I said. I was sorry I had said no, he knew that just by looking at me.

"Okay, fine. That wasn't so hard, was it?" Fang asked the stupidest rhetorical question I could possibly think of. That was hard to do. He was at the door when it hit me.

"Does that mean we're, like, broken up?" I asked and he turned to look at me.

"Yea, maybe it's best for a while." He said and left, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

**So there you have. I can feel the hate attacking me as I'm writing this. Maybe, just maybe, if you all behave, they'll get back together…maybe. I like being evil, maybe this story will get more and more evil. Request me as a beta reader, okay? LONGEST CHAPTER I'VE EVER WRITTEN! R&R!!!!!!! Oh yea, there's a new poll on my profile...check it out: )**


	11. Saying Goodbye Please read AN

**Hey, sorry, I have a bunch of notes today. First off, dear Mooing Llama, no I won't rewrite that chapter, sorry. Please keep reading, the drama makes it so much more fun! But, FAX will probably reunite because the chapters without it totally suck. Trust me, I already have a bunch written, they won't last long with out each other. And, I'm going to be putting up a new story in maybe a week. I don't want to give away to much detail, yet. It has NOTHING to do with this story, though. It'll be called Maximum Ride: When Worlds Collide, keep an eye out for it, okay? And sorry, but this chapter is a little short, review anyways!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Maximum Ride characters mainly because I'm not the person we've all come to know and love.**

**Claimer: I thought about it, and I only own half this plot because James Patterson gave me the idea. Charity, Rayne, Abbey, and half this plot are TOTALLY mine though.**

Chapter 11: Saying Good Bye

Max's POV

I cried myself to sleep that night. I the morning I dried my eyes, waited for the swelling to go down, and went downstairs for breakfast.

"Morning Max!" Nudge greeted me cheerfully. I waved and slumped onto a kitchen chair. Iggy pushed a plate of eggs, bacon, and pancakes in front of me.

"Don't ask where I got the food. Really weird mutants. Trust me you don't want to know." He half explained. I smiled and dug in. I kept my face on my food when Fang walked in and crumpled in the chair next to me. Do I act like nothing happened? Should we tall the flock? His knee hit mine gently and when I looked up to tell him off, he shook his head almost imperceptibly. I nodded and finished my breakfast quickly.

The next 2 days went by slowly. We did tell the flock we broke up though.

"Why aren't you 2 all over each other?" Gazzy asked later that day. I sighed.

"Um, this isn't exactly how we wanted to tell you." Fang began and paused, unsure of himself.

"Oh, God. Fine, if you 2 can't tell them I will. These 2 idiots broke up." Iggy burst and there were loud protests from the others. I shrugged and nodded.

"Look, we're older than you all. I know you want an explanation, but you guys won't understand. I'm sorry." I said, pissed that Iggy had blabbed with news this important. They had all looked so sad, but they knew we wouldn't tell them if we didn't want to. They nodded sadly and hugged me and Fang.

All I mainly did was pack and prepare. We had decided that for our first mission we'd stay close to Anne's. I figured it would only take few hours at the most. But, at least 2 rooms needed to be prepared and the house needed to be purged of a thick layer of dust.

Finally the time had to come to say good bye. I know what you're thinking. If you'll only be gone for a few hours total, why is saying good bye so hard? Well, we had no idea what type of resistance we'd meet.

The 9 of us walked down to the end of Anne's long drive way together.

"Okay, you 4 be good." I had decided the night before that I wanted Abbey with me. They nodded.

"Come home as soon as possible." Angel said sadly. She hugged her brother and I kissed her forehead.

"Fang's in charge," I was going into crazy mom mode, "Leave the house looking NICE. Be ready to teach people how to kick butt when we get back," We walked out of the gate, "Love you guys!" We all hugged. Except me and Fang who I waved to.

Taking off, I looked back and saw Fang watching us, well me, carefully. I smiled slightly and the 5 of us flew south together.

**Okay, so that chapter was REALLY short. If I don't get at least 5 more reviews though, this story is going on hold. Sorry to those of you who do review, but I want to get tons of reviews for this story and apparently it's very difficult to hit that little button at the bottom of the page and type 'great story so far' or 'you're a sucky writer' or even 'I hate yo story, bitch!' Whatev, just keep an eye out for my new story okay?**


	12. Where Is She?

**REVIEW!!!**** And you guys are going to hate me, again! Sorry.**

Chapter 12: Where Is She?

Fang's POV

Max and the others had been gone for almost 9 hours. I was worried. I was in the living room with Angel, Charity, Total, and Rayne. Pacing up and down the perimeter of the room like a maniac, they watched me nervously. I glanced at my watch, again.

"Fang, you've looked at your watch, like, 100 times in the last 5 minutes. Calm down. They'll be here." Charity said, trying to sooth me. Yea, right. Trying to calm me down right now would be like music actually soothing the savage beast; it just wasn't going to happen. I missed her too much anyway. I nodded just to make Charity happy and sat down next to them on the couch. The list of chores Max had left had been completed hours ago and now we were just waiting. My knee bounced impatiently and Angel's eyes followed it.

"Fang, stop you're making me dizzy!" She practically yelled and jumped on my knee. It did nothing; I just bounced the other one.

"Fine, fine. I'll stop. If they aren't back by midnight, then we're leaving to go look for them." I said as I stood up. Angel fell off my lap and looked at me quietly.

"Okay, 3 hours. There are 3 hours until midnight. Until then, we make sure everything is ready." Rayne said. I nodded and walked to 1 of the spare rooms. It was the 1 I had stayed in. There was a full size bed and we had dragged in a cot from the attic. A simple lamp illuminated the room and I sat on the bed.

I would never tell the flock, but I was worried. Max shouldn't have been gone this long. It was only a simple mission. They were going to fly around, see if they could talk anybody into coming to live here, and come back. That was it. Max doesn't mess up like that, not on a very simple mission anyway. Something must have happened. What kind of trouble had those 5 gotten themselves into? The possibilities were endless. A million different scenes ran through my brain.

Erasers, Taszies, the City, Jeb's minions, nothing could be ruled out yet. I straightened out and walked downstairs. Grabbing a can of corn, I leaned against the counter and ate.

The next hour and a half went by much like the first 9. I avoided everybody and worried. The others talked quietly about a game plan and finally approached me.

"We think we should leave, now." Rayne said timidly. I raised my eye brows at him and smirked.

"Didn't you 4 want to wait? Wasn't I the one that said we should go look for them like 3 hours ago? But, I won't say I told you so, even if I'm mentally saying it," I said, standing up. I head evened out to a full foot and a half above Rayne's. He didn't back down, though. The kid had guts, for a 12 year old, "Okay, let's go." I walked out the front door with out looking behind me. I knew they were following me.

We made our way slowly above the tree tops, so we could see them.

"Angel, can you hear them?" I called to the mind reader and she gave me a sign that said 1 minute.

"Yea, they're down and to the left." She said after a minute. I banked steeply, almost knocking into Charity as I went. She swerved and hit Rayne. I smiled and continued flying. Angel pointed us in the correct direction and we finally flew into a small cave. Only Max wasn't there. Abbey, Iggy, Gazzy, and Nudge were lying helplessly on the floor. Nudge wasn't lying down, she was sitting nervously over Iggy.

"Fang! Thank God you guys are here! We were attacked. I don't know where Max is, I think they kidnapped her. Iggy is in really bad shape. Gazzy set off a bomb and Iggy was in the middle of the bomb's path of destruction. He's knocked out, they all are. Abbey was fighting really well, borrowing anybody's powers she could. A Taszie snuck up on her and brought her down. Gazzy was the one who set off the bomb and he was too close. I already told you what happened to Iggy. Max… they took her practically before we landed. One minute she was there, the next she wasn't." Nudge began to cry and Charity pulled her into a hug. I knelt down beside Abbey and looked at her closely. One of her wings was folded at an odd angle and she had blood coming out of her nose in a slow trickle. Poor Abbey.

I moved closer to Gazzy and inspected him. He didn't look as bad as Abbey. The Gasman was covered in scrapes and bruises, but nothing looked broken.

"Char, can you heal them? Starting with Abbey. I'm pretty sure her wing is broken." I said without turning around. She moved closer to Abbey and the magical sparks flew from her finger tips. They hovered over her crooked wing and then flitted to her nose. She groaned and slowly sat up.

"Max! Where is she?" Abbey had merged seamlessly with the flock, able to become fully awake and alert in a second.

"We don't know." Rayne said, helping her stand up. Charity moved closer to Gazzy and the sparks did their job, She hesitated over Iggy, so short a time period that only I noticed.

Every time Charity heals Iggy, the sparks hover over his eyes for a few minutes and this time was no exception. Eventually they moved on to the rest of his wounds and his sightless eyes fluttered open.

"You guys okay?" I asked as Iggy jumped up. They nodded, "Good. We have to find Max." of course I still loved her. More than the whole world. Even if we had broken up, I don't care. Max would always have a special place in my heart.

As we walked out of the cave, Nudge muttered to Gazzy, "Well, _somebody_ isn't over Max." I characteristically ignored her.

"Okay, where did she disappear?" Charity asked. Abbey pointed and we took off towards that spot.

"We were right here. Max was saying how we should start in the cave and see if we saw anybody. One second she was telling us the plan, the next she was gone. What do you think happened to her? I hope she's okay." Nudge usefully informed us.

"Me too Nudge, me too." I whispered and shot to the ground directly below us. The others followed me and we searched the ground for signs. Trampled grass, broken branches, ashes, anything that could point us to Max. There it was; signs of a fight. A big circle of trampled grass and a small puddle of blood. I hope it wasn't Max's.

"Guys, over here. I found something." I waved them over and pointed to the puddle of blood.

"Oh no, blood. Is it Max's?" Rayne asked.

"Let's find out. Iggy, touch it." I told the blind boy. He gave me a really weird face, but I grabbed his wrist and pulled it in the right direction. He slowly lowered his finger tips into the cold blood and looked sightlessly at me.

"Yea, it's Max's alright." He said as he wiped his fingers on his stained pants. No, oh man. It can't be Max's blood, oh my God. Nudge, being the brave soldier she is, stepped forward.

"Maybe my powers can help?" She asked. Before I could answer, she was on the ground beside me with 1 finger in Max's blood.

After a minute or so, she stood up. The look on her face wasn't a pleasant one and it made me believe it wasn't good. I was right.

"She was attacked. Whoever it was isn't planning on letting her live too much longer. We have to help her. They went this way." Nudge pointed into the forest behind me. I felt there was something she wasn't sharing, but I dropped it and stood up. We began our long and tedious search for our beloved leader.

Carefully pulling up branches, stepping over logs, searching for signs of Max, we made our way through the majority of the forest. Here and there we'd see a bit of Max's dark maroon blood, puddled into 1 spot. That meant that either her captors stopped or she was bleeding badly. If they stopped it meant that they weren't worried about her escaping. The latter was bad for obvious reasons.

We followed the trail of broken branches and blood easily. It was almost as if they wanted us to follow her trail. It wouldn't be the first time that we were caught in a trap. It happened to me and Max after we went looking for a home and ended up kissing in a cave. They did want us to come looking for her, didn't they? I wouldn't care and just keep going if the kids weren't here with me.

Before I could tell them to go home, we were face to face with a high barbed wire fence.

**Okay, so I didn't get 5 reviews. I got 4. I'm really pleased with 4, but I'd love 5. I think I'm going to keep pushing you guys. I won't update this time, seriously. Okay, so I might, but my goal for this story is to get at least 100 reviews. I don't know how many more chapters there will be so I'd appreciate it if I just started a ton from everybody. Review twice if you want, 3, 4, 5 times even. The more reviews I get the better this story will get. Trust me, it'll get a lot better, too.**


	13. Mary's Song

**Hey guys, I'm so sorry this took me so long to put up. I was very disappointed with the # of reviews that last chapter got. 3, only 3, GEEZ! Anyways, sorry this is short, but hopefully the uber-informational-ness will make up for it slightly. And you'll understand this later, but Syre is pronounced seer. Like sears, but with out the s.**

Chapter 13: Mary's Song

Max's POV

She said, I was 7 and you were 9,

I looked at you like the stars that shined,

In the shy, the pretty lights.

Our daddies used to joke about the 2 of us,

Growing up and falling in love and our mamas smiled,

And rolled their eyes and said 'oh my my my.'

A Taylor Swift song was playing in my ears as I slowly came to. A certain traitor had loved Taylor Swift, namely Jeb. I tried to move, but found I was strapped to a table. Oh God.

"What the hell?!" I cried and I threw open my eyes. The traitor afore mentioned stood over me. Yup, Jeb has risen from the dead… again. You just can't die like to used to, can you? Taylor Swift was still playing in the back round.

"Ah, Max, I see you've woken up. Finally. Well, I bet you would like to know what's going on, huh?" He asked, no longer masking the hatred in his voice. No freaking DUH I'd like a few questions answered. The only one I could focus on is one I'm sure you'd like to know about to.

"Yea. First, what the hell are you still doing alive?" I spat fiercely at him. He smiled maliciously.

"Even somebody as stupid as you should be able to figure that out. DNA, Maximum, the key to the whole world is in DNA. Right now, I have every powerful recombinant life form's DNA coursing through my veins as we speak. Who's do you think that could be?" DNA, of course. If Kaila could have done it, why couldn't Jeb?

"Who's? Mine, Ari's, the flock's?" I countered.

"No, well, yes and no. It's a very powerful mixture. Ari's of course, yours too. I also have Angel's, Abbey's, Fang's, Total's, and Gabby's. And I've had it for so long that I have every ability that those who the DNA belong to do." Jeb said like the rude snot he is. My jaw dropped slowly as I realized what this meant. So Jeb had the Eraser thing, super speed, earth control, shape shifting, invisibility, mind control, mind reading, breathing under water, talking to fish, power mimicking, and anything Gabby had. THIS WASN'T GOOD. He was practically unstoppable, no, he WAS unstoppable. The Invincible Jeb Batchelder.

"Oh my God," I murmured at it sunk in. The man with a gabillion powers wanted me dead. Maybe the flock knew of a way to help me out, because I sure didn't. Or maybe Jeb already had them. I needed to know a few things though, "Okay, so you have mine, Total's, Abbey's, Fang's, and Angel's powers. What did you get from Gabby?" I needed to know exactly what I was up against.

"Like I'm going to tell you. But, it's basically everything a failure like you could ever ask for." Of course he wouldn't tell me. What power could I want? Telekinesis, check; invisibility, check; so what was it? Pyrokinesis, super strength, brains, duplication, what new powers did he have? It could be anything!

"So Jeb, tell me what you're going to do to me." I said casually. I was stalling, but mildly curious too.

"Maximum, you're the first." He said that like it should explain everything.

"First WHAT? What the hell are you talking about you schizo maniac?" I asked him getting more annoyed and scared and worried with every passing second.

"The first of a new breed. A super breed. No, a super race. My super race. You'll have every power you could possibly imagine. Weather control, telekinesis, hydrokinesis, your whole flock's powers and SO much more. You'll have everything you could ever want." So that was half the physco's plan.

"Yea, except the flock, freedom, and HAPPINESS!" I shouted wildly at him. Jeb simply shushed me.

"Maximum, you won't be without your flock for too long. Within 2 months we'll have captured and changed them too. You'll be a big family of Syres. You see a Syre is a brand new hybrid species. They must have at least 4 different DNAs not including human. You'll have avian, of course, lupine, and a few surprises. A whole new era. No close your eyes and hold still. This may hurt a little, or a lot." Jeb advanced on me with a needle in his hand. If I let him poke me with it, I may never ever wake up. I thrashed wildly and didn't calm down until 15 minutes later, when the anesthetic kicked in. The last thing I heard was Taylor Swift, still singing softly in the back round.

**Oh man, that was short. I'm so sorry. Review with any unanswered questions and I'll make sure they get answered in an upcoming chapter. Yes, that opening was from Taylor Swift's Mary's Song, which is currently my favorite song. I won't be updating probably until I'm done with MR4, so probably Wednesday at the latest. Please review, I really liked that chapter.**


	14. Treasonish

**OMG, OMG, OMG Maximum Ride 4: The Final Warning so came out yesterday! I don't get my copy until tomorrow, so please don't say anything in a review yet! But I'm sure I'll be doing a story in MROS then if you all like it I'll make it a story. And I was extremely appalled with the amount of reviews I got last chapter! APPALLED! 1 review, uno. So disappointed in all of you, I thought you LIKED my story. Maybe I'll put it on hold for that, you all deserve it. Man, 1 review, you guys are evil. You all thought I was evil for making Jeb evil? That was nothing compared to the payback for those 1 REVIEW! Evil, I tell you, evil!**

Chapter 14: Treason-ish

Fang's POV

I was ready to jump the fence and stand in front of anything to save Max. Apparently not everybody felt that way.

"Okay, let's go." Iggy said touching the fence nervously. I stared at him defiantly, but the look was wasted.

"What do you mean, 'go?' We can't leave Max. I won't let them hurt her, whoever 'them' are!" I practically yelled at Iggy. I turned around to look at the rest of the flock to see them all staring at me.

"Fang, Max is a big girl. She can rescue herself. There are a lot of BAD vibes coming from this place. I don't want anybody to go in there." Angel said looking anxiously at the fence. Nudge reached out and touched it, then swiftly drew her hand back.

"No way. Very bad people are behind this fence. They're very willing to kill us." She said. The flock, Max's flock, was abandoning her? Max had raised these kids as her own, now wasn't the time to start caring about safety. But, I couldn't let Gazzy, Abbey, and Angel get hurt. Max would never forgive me. If it were just me, Iggy, and Charity then I wouldn't hesitate. I couldn't risk their lives. Angel was right; Max was a big girl now. But, I couldn't leave her alone.

"Fine, okay, we'll leave. I don't want you guys to get hurt. Let's go." I said, blood making my face hot from anger. Anger at myself, Max, and the kids. Max would never hesitate to jump over that fence, for any of the flock. Why weren't they willing to do it for her? It didn't make sense; maybe my love blinded me to the obvious though.

We traipsed back through the forest the way we came, covering our tracks as we went. I huffed into the house and slammed my bedroom door behind me. I sat on my bed in angry silence for the good majority of an hour. Wait, I was the strongest of us all. I didn't need anybody with me. I'm Fang, Mr. Emotionless, Tall Dark and Silent, I could do anything. Rashly, I walked across the room and picked up my backpack from the spot near the door where I'd dropped it when I walked in. I pulled out a pen and piece of paper.

_Guys,_

_I'm sorry, but you're all retarded. I can't leave Max with whoever her captors are. I'm still in love with her. I refuse to let them hurt them. They can kill me first. Please don't come look for me, this is something I have to do by myself. I'm sorry. Either Max or I will be back, maybe both of us. I'm really hoping for that last option to prevail. She's helped you all so much, I can't believe you're going to abandon her when she needs you most. I'm surprised, especially with you Angel. She basically raised you._

_Goodbye For Now and I Love You All,_

_Fang_

I set it on my bed and opened my window. My backpack was slung over my back with some cans of food, matches, and clothes inside it. I couldn't bring the first aid in case the flock needed it. Hopefully Max wouldn't need it that badly. I jumped and prayed my wings would still work after all the trauma.

I flew quickly south, every second could mean one less for Max. I landed softly on the foreign side of the fence that made me so angry at the others. I quietly _walked _from the back of 1 tree to another, waiting to be caught.

"Hey, you! Who the hell are you? Wait, you're Fang, Max's boyfriend." He finished roughly and began an advance towards me. It was a combination of an Eraser and an avian. I could tell because he had two lines that bulged out of his shirt where his wings didn't seam properly. I backed away and straight into the fence. I didn't have time to react before he had pounced and pinned me to the ground. I struggled under his weight, but I stood no chance. This mutant was about 10 times stronger than even me. Thank God the others weren't here. Kicking and screaming, biting and scratching he dragged me away from the fence and into the top secret facility.

Nudge's POV

I ran up the stairs and pounded on Fang's door. He hadn't come out since we got home yesterday. It's nothing new for him to stay by himself, but this was ridiculous.

"Fang! Iggy made dinner. Come on, Max'll be fine." I said through the door, half convincing myself.

It wasn't that I didn't love Max; I loved her more than anybody in the world. I also valued my life though. Max wouldn't escape if we tried to rescue her anyway. We would ALL get killed.

Nothing happened behind Fang's door. Oh no, where is he? I slammed open his door, maybe too dramatically because it hit the wall and bounced back. The room was empty! Except for a piece of paper on the bed, fluttering gently because of the breeze coming from the window. I picked it up and read it twice before it hit me.

Fang left to rescue Max by himself. He was mad at us because he didn't understand why he couldn't rescue her. Oh Fang, haven't you been listening to those last few paragraphs?

I raced down the stairs as fast as my legs could carry me and crashed directly into Gazzy. We both hit the ground comically and got the attention of the whole house.

"You guys okay?" Charity asked. She grabbed Gazzy's hand and Rayne grabbed mine. They hoisted us up and I became a frantic mess.

"Fang's gone! He went to find Max by himself! He's mad too! He doesn't – UGH! He is SO stubborn! Oh my God. What are we going to do?" I had watched my constant rambling since we'd arrived at Anne's.

"Whoa, Nudge, slow down and begin again." Iggy said soothingly. I took a few deep breaths and retold my story. By the end, the kids were in tears and the others just looked shocked.

"Wow, what should we do?" Gazzy asked. Angel and Abbey wiped their eyes. Surprisingly, Total had the best idea.

"Maybe we should wait a day or 2 and if they don't come back then we go look for them." He said like the wise Scotty he is. We all agreed to this idea and began a painful waiting period.

**Okay, sorry for the lack of updates. Thanks for the 1 stinking review! Please review, please.**


	15. Syres

Hey, guys, sorry it took me SO long

**Hey, guys, sorry it took me SO long! I've been…yea, I got nothing.**

Chapter 15: Syres

Max's POV

"Hiya!" I yelled aiming yet another kick at Fang. He blocked it and counter attacked.

It had been 2 days since he woke up. I'd been up for 3 days. If my calculations were correct (and they were), we had been here for a week and 2 days. Again, we were training with our new boss, Jeb. Yea, he'd succeeded, Fang and I were Syres.

"Max, faster, and don't say anything." Jeb advised me. I nodded. My foot soared through the air and, with silent precision, hit Fang squarely on the jaw. He sailed with the momentum and landed a few feet away, a purplish bruise already forming.

"Good job! That was fabulous." Jeb praised me. I basked in the warmth of a job well done for a few seconds before offering Fang my hand.

"Ow." He grumbled quietly. An already freakishly strong Fang is scary, but try fighting a freakishly strong Fang with a vengeance. Of course, this was only training, baby fighting, the flock's fighting.

So what, I'd changed. They're the ones who didn't even try and rescue me. Fang had tried, but ended up just like me. Now, unless the flock could magically save us, we were working for Jeb. Jeb Batchelder, the invincible, unstoppable, mind reading, super hero.

You're probably still a little confused, okay, a lot confused. I now consisted of 5 blood types, as did Fang. Canis Lupis, gray wolf; Homo sapien, human; tons of Aves, birds; Panthera onca, jaguar; and Calumma brevacornis, short horned chameleon. The wolf blood made me fast and strong. We all know what the bird blood does. The bit of jaguar made us stronger, faster, and merciless. The chameleon was by far the most amazing. With it I could blend perfectly with my surroundings. I could also change in any way, shape, or form to better suit me or my environment. It was totally incredible.

"Max! Max, get up!" Fang was snapping his fingers in front of my face. I was on my back, lying flat in the dirt.

"What did you do?" I asked him, standing up and brushing myself off. He smiled slightly and walked back to Jeb a few feet away.

"It's your fault. You weren't paying attention. I kicked you in the stomach. Apparently, your strength hasn't fully affected your reflexes yet." I nodded. He was right; I should have pais more attention. Oh well, I shrugged and walked over to stand net to him and Jeb.

"Yes, Max, training is over. And when we go eat, we have a few… guests. Don't we Faith?" Faith was an avian, like us, around Nudge's age. She had been found 2 days ago and was going to be the 3rd ever Syre, being created tonight. She nodded, silent as usual, and held open the door for us. Fang and I were like celebrities here. We would either inherit the world from Jeb or be the most important experiments ever created.

I thanked her and followed Jeb through the hallways in the now familiar facility. My new enhanced eyes noticed every flicker of movement and every change in the lighting. I saw everything from Fang moving his arm to scratch his nose out of the corner of my eye to a light being turned off behind me to a door being silently closed a couple hundred yards in front of us. And yes, this building was that big. The property was almost 4 times as big as Anne's. We finally entered the dining room. It wasn't that big, but it comfortably fit about 15 people at the table. At the head always sat Jeb, me on his right, and Fang on his left. Tonight, at the head closest to the door, was somebody, presumably the guests. 2 guests that I wasn't pleased to see, 2 guests who I thought I'd never see again.

"Kaila! Martin! You're okay?" Our former rescuer had survived along with her sidekick. They were gagged and bound to the chairs they sat in. Kaila managed a muffled scream, probably startled by my appearance. Instead of the longish blonde hair and green eyes on a natural tanned complexion that I used to have, I had a choppy dark brown bob cut that set off my perfectly tanned complexion. My eyes were so blue they matched the ocean. My incisors had elongated slightly and were surrounded by red plump lips. I weighed less, but not because of malnourishment, I had very thin hollow bones because they needed to change shape. I was taller, almost 6 foot 3 inches. My wings had become a blue that matched my eyes and reached an incredible wingspan of 18 feet.

Fang still had his Mediterranean complexion with new deep purplish eyes. He reached a height of 6 foot 11 inches and weighed only 90 pounds. His wings matched his eyes and had a 20 foot wingspan! His teeth matched mine, but his lips were paler. His hair was black as night. Fang also had been altered slightly more because apparently I had already had wolf blood, but he didn't. Neither of us needed to eat as much because our bodies could effectively hold onto calories and use that for energy.

We politely took our spots across from our 'guests' without saying a word other than what I'd said before. Jeb sat down in between us and signaled for our food. Experiments filed in with both their food and ours. They served us then took their seats along the table. 2 took the gags off Kaila and Marti before sitting down.

"Welcome, leader of the City. This is the Habitat. I'm the leader here, as I'm sure you've realized. Now how did you find this place?" Jeb asked. Hmm, the Habitat that was the first time he'd said that. I tucked it into my mind for later use.

"I don't think I should, but seeing as how you've threatened to kill me if I didn't spill I guess I'll tell you. The flock came back to the City 3 days ago. They couldn't find Fang. They needed the City's help. Since nobody had ever figured out that I helped the flock escape, I was still in charge. So Martin and I came to the rescue, but you're allies are numerous and we were found out. Then they brought us here. We were threatened to be killed or turned into whatever you've turned poor Max and Fang into." Kaila finished. She looked paler than I remembered and the glow of her white teeth was diminished. She made me want to scoff, I liked what I'd become. I had powers, more than Angel, and fabulous vision, hearing, smelling, et cetera. The flock could come anytime they wanted to join us. I had enough power to make sure they weren't killed.

"Jeb, what are you going to do with them? Without their help we wouldn't be here right now." Fang whispered to Jeb. He nodded and stared intently at them. I opened my mind and probed Fang's gently, sending out little 'let me in' messages.

_Yes? _He finally answered. Yep, we'd gotten the power to read minds, the only mind we couldn't read was Jeb's, unless he let us in. And vice versa.

_What do you think he'll do? Maybe they'll become Syres and help us with our mission?_

_I don't know, Max. Our mission might be a lot easier with just the 2 of us. _I'll tell you more about our mission later.

_Mmm, true. I bet he'll kill them. _I thought, Fang nodded from a few feet away. I drew back from his mind and stuck my mind into Kaila's instead.

_Oh no, he's going to kill us, I know it. Oh God, I'm sorry flock. I didn't want to hurt you. I'm sorry about Fang and Max, too. They look so… different. Almost inhuman. _I drew back. That was enough. Just FYI, Kaila, we AREN'T human, duh. I mentally shrugged and picked up my fork. Glancing quickly at Jeb to make sure it was okay to eat. He nodded, knowing I'd see it, and I helped myself to the chicken on my plate.

Some of you might think, chicken after the end of the world? But, like Iggy said before, those wacky scientists made some really messed up experiments.

"Okay, I've thought about it," Jeb said about 15 minutes later, "I've decided that," pause for dramatic effect, "I'm going to kill you. Please enjoy you're last meals and afterwards Faith here will escort you to you're room. Tomorrow morning we'll allow the executioners to do their jobs." Jeb said vaguely and our meal was finished in silence. My mind raced rapidly, although I stayed quiet, except in my head. I was holding an exciting conversation with Fang and Jeb in my mind.

_Really, Jeb? You want us to do this?_

_Yes, Fang, you 2 are ready; you'll stand guard outside their room tomorrow night._

_And in the morning we do our very first execution?_

_Yes, Max, tomorrow, but remember everything I've taught you this last week. _I know, so much has changed. We had taken the place of those loathsome Erasers. We had become executioners. Only us, right? Soon, we'd of course be too important to do it, but for now we were the only ones who were prepared and equipped. I was strangely excited to be so important and definite in the lives of Kaila and Martin. Fang and I would be the last things they saw. It was an honor to do this, only the people with the best skills and most prestigious experiments got to do this. Jeb allowing us to execute Kaila and Martin was like winning the Nobel Prize for being you. I bubbled over with anxiety, nerves, and excitement.

**Sadly, that was TOTALLY one of my favorite chapters! It gives you so much insight on how much Max has changed. It's totally cool. Anyways, please get me at least 5 reviews. I got 4 for the last chapter, but that so isn't good enough. I'd REALLY like to get at least 100 reviews. More would be fabulous, though. Send me a bunch of reviews on each chapter, that'd be sick. I want to know what I need to do to improve my writing, since author is my chosen career path. ******


	16. The E Word

Well, I didn't get many reviews

**Well, I didn't get many reviews. But I think it was because you were ALL SO speechless with my abilities to write new twists and turns for all of your favorite MR characters, right? RIGHT?? And I don't believe that we're already on chapter 16. Thanks to everybody who had stuck through this story with me from the very beginning. Special thanks to Kiki144327, aviator301, O Wingless One, mooing Llama, and volleyballchick94. If I left out any FAITHFUL reviewers and critics please tell me.**

Chapter 16: The E Word

Charity's POV

Fang had been gone for almost a week. We had tried 3 rescue missions, every one ending very badly. Thanks to our 'rescues' my healing powers had not gone to waste. We been attacked and trapped. Abbey had rebroken her wing, Angel had sprained an ankle, Gazzy got a fat lip, Rayne had a swollen eye, I pulled a muscle in my upper thigh, and Iggy had gotten a slight concussion. Luckily, we hadn't been captured.

Now, we're flying toward the City to see if Kaila is still alive. If she is, we're going to beg for help. I was flying point, Abbey to my left, Rayne to my right, Nudge behind me, Angel and Gazzy on either side of her. Finally, Iggy brought up the tail.

"Guys! Something is coming up behind us." Iggy called up through the roaring wind.

"Okay, let's land. I think that's the City below us anyway." I called and banked slowly downward. Now I could hear the whoosh of unfamiliar wings behind me. I made sure we were all safely on the ground then stood in front of the flock, like I'd seen Max and Fang do a hundred times. The new comers landed in front of us and I realized that it was exactly who we were looking for.

"Kaila? You're alive?" Nudge said what was on all of our minds.

"What's going on? Nudge, why are you talking about Kaila? Is she here or something?" Iggy was ready to blow form no information. I smiled as Gazzy explained in a whisper.

"You're okay?" Kaila asked us. The most surprising thing about her arrival? She had WINGS, too. I nodded, bewildered by this new bit of information. Her wings were big and white with little black spots in them, like a snowy owl's.

"Yea, we're all okay, well kind of. Not really. Fang went looking for Max almost a week ago after Max was attacked on a rescue mission and now we can't find either of them. We were on our back to the City to see if you could help us. But apparently, there's no reason to go all the way there." Nudge told Kaila, miraculously all in one breath.

"Yea, what she said." Iggy said oh-so-helpfully.

"What happened? Fang and Max aren't with you anymore? Are they okay?" Martin had been the second pair of wings we heard.

"Yea, we'll explain later. Can you please help us?" I asked. They said of course. I'll summarize the rest.

We flew back to Anne's and told the story of what happened after we left the City. Then, Anne and Martin offered to scope out the land for us. That was 3 days ago. We haven't seen head, wing, or tail of either Martin or Kaila. I just hope they're okay.

Max's POV

Later that night, Fang and I sat on vigil outside Kaila and Martin's door. We were going over the plan in our heads, like I hadn't already committed it to memory.

_So, in the morning we get a half hour of sleep. Then we eat what we need to. Then…_

_We march the prisoners out to the courtyard as planned._

_Then, we kick butt! _Fang said.

Our plan was fool proof. Not even Jeb could do anything about it, if he wanted to. Our wings were outstretched slightly. When they were in that position it allowed us to hear even better than we already could. Thoughts were louder and voices 3 floors above us could be heard. Kaila was silently crying inside the door. And by silently I mean it sounded like an awful thunder storm to Fang and I.

We sat outside the door all night long, nobody came past. Everybody was afraid to mess with us. They'd seen what we'd done to FlyBoys in the training yards.

Since all I'm doing is sitting outside the door, I'll tell you what amazing powers I have. I have super strength, speed, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, technopathy, biological manipulation, duplication, water breathing, wall crawling, omni-linguism, omniscience, psychometry, light manipulation, and my favorite: probability manipulation.

You all know what the super strength, speed, and senses are. You should know what telekinesis is, since Angel has it. Iggy has pyrokinesis. Techopathy is the ability to control any and all technology. Biological manipulation is being able to control what you look like, like shape shifting. Duplication is being able to make many copies of yourself. Angel has water breathing so you know what that is. Wall crawling is very spider man, but with out the webs. Omni-linguism is being able to speak basically every language, all the way back to cave man. Omniscience is like past, present, and future seeing. Psychometry is what Nudge has. Light manipulation is being able to bend the light and some shadows. Probability manipulation is being able to see and change the outcome of any situation. So, I could change my situation right now so that a bunch of monkeys jumped through the window and began doing the hokey pokey.

In the morning after going through our plans for hours on end, Jeb came to see us. We left with 2 FlyBoys guarding the room and walked through the halls with Jeb. He led us to his office and we went inside.

"Okay, you both remember the plan?" Jeb asked us sitting behind his big oak desk.

"How can we forget? But if it helps, we went over it in our heads for hours last night." Fang said.

"Okay, Max, repeat it." Jeb turned to me.

"First, we stood guard outside the door. Then, we're going to bring the prisoners to the courtyard. Then, when all eyes are on us, we fly. We fly to the flock. We'll have trackers, of course, so that you can come retrieve the others and turn them into Syres as well. Then, we train for you and help you accomplish world domination." Yep, that was the plan. We, Fang and I, had added a few things to it in our minds. Jeb nodded his approval, so unknowing of our own modifications.

"Okay, I've received word. The prisoners are prepared, the time has come. Go collect them and meet me in the courtyard in 5 minutes." Jeb nodded to us and we left the room.

Kaila and Martin marched in between us as we walked calmly to the training yard. They stood in the middle, no straps holding them there. Their wings weren't tied, nothing. But, their fear was enough to completely paralyze them. I sensed the bitter taste of it in my mouth. I swallowed, trying to get more adrenaline pumping through my genetically enhanced veins.

_Are you ready? _Fang's voice intruded into my thoughts.

_Yea, we've been ready for 3 days. _We advanced on Kaila and Martin. An evil smile was on my face. The whole facility was behind us, watching Jeb's newest creations doing an incredible demonstration of our powers and abilities. As we drew closer we saw that they were visibly shaking. We were on top of them, the moment of truth.

We opened our wings and leapt directly into the air. No running start necessary. We made our way calmly to Anne's house, praying that our flock had waited this last week and 4 days.

**Okay, now is where your help is needed. Go to my profile and vote on my poll! This chapter was called The E Word because it stood for execution and escape. PLEASE R&R!!**


	17. Her Decision

Hmm, do I continue

**Hmm, do I continue? I guess because I just checked and the first of this series at 16 chapters it had 48 reviews, but I'd really like 100 reviews total in this story. I'm not sure how much longer it'll be. Check out my profile, I just redid it.**

Chapter 17: Her Decision

Max's POV

We confidently took off, jumping back and away from Kaila and Martin. We didn't sure if we'd be back, but the experiments weren't paying attention. If they didn't take this opportunity to escape, we had no room for them.

I watched the ground, thinking, letting my instincts take us to Anne's. Drop the tracker or no? Do I want the whole flock Syres? No, it was painful at first. Plus, this is a lot of new powers, they couldn't handle it.

_Fang?_

_Yes?_

_We're dropping the trackers. Dive, now, separate, drop at different spots, meet up here in 5 minutes. Make sure it's hidden well._

_But, Max…_

_No, you're right. Follow me. _I dived into the thick trees, wings pulled loosely in. We landed about 15 seconds later in a clearing full of rocks, big and small. Perfect.

"Okay, come here." I beckoned with my finger. Fang walked over and got down on his knees. I reached my index finger and thumb into his mouth and felt around for the tooth. I felt it, a tooth slightly rougher than the rest. It was a bottom molar. I yanked and it easily came out with a PING!

"Ow." Fang rubbed the side of his mouth. I smiled.

"Okay, now get out mine. It's a back molar and feels different from the rest." I told him. He nodded and motioned for me to sit on a rock. I did and he fished around in my mouth. Awkward…

_You're telling me. _Oh great, he so wasn't supposed to hear that, I guess I forgot to block my thoughts.

I felt a medium pain, a livable tooth ache, and Fang was handing me a small green tooth. I handed him his and picked up a rock. We smashed the rocks against the teeth and crushed all evidence. We weren't visible on their maps anymore, yay us.

"Okay, to Anne's?" I asked Fang. He nodded, "Air or walk?" I asked him.

"Let's walk, I need to stretch my leg muscles out a bit." Fang said. We tucked in our new wings neatly and tromped through the thick forest. Only 30 minutes later, we had arrived at a very familiar house. Yup, Anne's mansion had appeared right before our eyes. My stomach was full of butterflies and doing flips at the thought of seeing my lost family again.

"You ready?" Fang asked me. I nodded and he took my hand. We were back together, sort of. Anyway, we confidently (confident was our only nature) walked up the lawn and through the door.

"Max? Fang?" Nudge's voice was surprised and sad. The whole flock's eyes were on us. Yes, their eyes. Iggy's too. His eyes weren't the cloudy blue they generally were, they were a bright sad, smiling blue. He hugged me and the rest of the flock followed suit.

"We missed you. What happened to you guys? Where are Kaila and Martin?" Charity asked us once we were all seated at the table.

"I'm not sure. It would have been suspicious if we had brought them. We're not the same, well kind of. We're still Max and Fang, but we're not avian hybrids anymore. Now, we're a combination of a bunch of different animals. We're called Syres. You guys were going to be Syres, too, but we didn't want you guys to get hurt." I said. Fang and I had decided 2 days ago that if we escaped, we wouldn't tell the flock about our powers. They might want to turn into Syres.

"How did Iggy get his sight back?" Fang asked, munching on a can of ravioli.

"I guess you can only be healed so many times before it really takes effect." Iggy said with a shrug. Charity looked at him longingly and he returned the loving look. I glanced at Fang to see that he had seen the look too.

"Um, did we miss something?" I asked. Nudge and Abbey giggled.

"Yea, just a bit. We're back together and… uh… there's a chance I may be… pregnant." Charity said. Iggy whistled and looked out the window behind Gazzy. I stared at them open mouthed. Fang practically jumped over the table at Iggy.

"Can we speak to you 2 alone for a minute?" Fang demanded. I ushered the kids outside and slammed the door behind them.

"Ooh, they're mad." Rayne said and Nudge giggled.

"Huh? You might be pregnant?" I asked. Yea, I'm a bit hypocritical. Charity nodded, Iggy was still ignoring us.

"How did this happen? No, never mind, I know how it happened. When? No specifics, please." Fang said, leaning against the formica counter tops. Finally, Iggy turned around, his face pinkish.

"Well, isn't this the pot calling the kettle black? You were pregnant, Max!" Iggy yelled.

"Yea, and look how well that turned out! I'm a freak who doesn't fit in with her family and who's seen more terrible sights in her life than half the humans combined." I was shouting now too. I hate shouting, especially at Ig, he seems to be having random outbursts a lot lately. Maybe it's mutant puberty.

"Calm down, this isn't the end of the world. We'll take the same precautions we did with Max. How far do you think you are, Char?" Fang got in between me and Iggy.

"About 2 months." Charity answered. 2 months ago… 2 months ago, we were in Antarctica? Yea, about 1 month before we left.

"But, you're so young." I whined like a baby.

"Not much younger than you. I'm 15, you're almost 16. You were 16, what's the difference?" Charity asked. I couldn't tell her that, I didn't even know, it just was.

"I don't know. But, you know that a baby isn't just something that can be returned. Iggy, you're in this for the long haul. And Charity, you're in it for even longer." I said angrily.

"Yea, we know, kind of. We know we made a mistake and we know that we're being irresponsible. But, we were hoping that maybe you could… you know… take the baby." Iggy rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Whoa, wow, take their baby? Whoa, this was huge.

"Whoa, like be your baby's parents? I don't know. Max and I aren't even, like, officially back together. This is huge guys. Wow…" Fang said. I stared, it was all I could do. I wanted a baby so badly and Charity, I knew, wouldn't be able to handle it. I wanted to run and burst open my wings, but knew that wouldn't help Iggy and Charity.

"We'll think about it, that's all we can say right now." I said, they nodded.

Fang's POV

Later that night, I was sitting in a tree not far from one I had occupied when we stayed with Anne. I needed to think about this baby thing. I wanted to be a father, but this was big. We were basically having a baby given to us. I had heard Max leave her room a few minutes ago and knew that she'd find me. Sure enough, I soon heard the rush of her new beautiful wings and the tree wriggled as she landed next to me. I curled my arm around her shoulders and she laid her head on my shoulder. I sighed and began the conversation.

"So… you want a baby?" I joked lightly. She smiled and looked up into my eyes. I stared back, her blue eyes entrancing.

"More than anything in the whole world. But, it's huge. I don't know. I don't want them to fall into more than they can handle." She said. I nodded, understanding exactly what she meant.

"Maybe we should say yes. They're like our family. When they said that Char might be pregnant, I almost jumped over the table and attacked Iggy. Charity is like my little sister and Iggy doesn't think a lot. But, he seems so in love with her. What do you think?" I turned to Max. She was so beautiful. God, I loved that mutant. She shrugged and moved around to make herself more comfortable.

"I think we should take the baby." She said after a few minutes of thinking. I nodded. Of course, Charity was only 15 and Iggy wasn't responsible. He still hung out with 9 year old and built bombs for fun, for crying out loud.

"Okay, if that's what you want." I said. She nodded, excited for a change. We dropped out of the tree and walked back to the house hand in hand.

Max's POV

Even more later on, almost midnight, we pulled Iggy and Charity into the kitchen. The others had only been asleep for about an hour.

"Okay, we're going to take the baby." Fang said. Charity squealed and hugged me. I patted her back awkwardly.

"Really, man? Thanks, we seriously owe you guys a HUGE favor." Iggy did that weird guy-hug thing with Fang. You know the one with the fist bump and such.

"But, you 2 aren't exactly off the hook. You guys are going to need to pick up the slack and help us take care of the flock," I said. Telling this to them felt so natural, almost like Fang and I had never left, "For now, Charity, you're basically on bed rest." I said, crossing my arms. She nodded, probably eager for some vacation time.

"Okay, now go to bed." Fang said. We all went up stairs and separated into 2 rooms. I laid down on the bed and Fang laid down next to me.

"Is everything going to be okay?" I whispered after a few minutes. I could tell he was awake because his breathing was still fast.

_I don't know, we'll find out, I guess. _The response was in my head. I soon drifted off to sleep, chaos waking me in the morning.

**Dun, dun, dun! What chaos did Max wake up to? Will Iggy and Charity's baby survive? Will FAXness stay together this time? Will Jeb find them? These answers and more will be answered in the next chapter, or the next, or the next, maybe. But, they'll be answered be soon enough!**


	18. Chaos Ensues

REVIEW

**REVIEW!! I'm only getting 2 maybe 3 reviews per chapter, definitely not enough for the amount I'm writing to you guys. And can anybody tell me what AU means in a review or pm or something? Oh, I'm retarded but so excited because I got my first flame! I thank you I Am Darkness.**

Chapter 18: Chaos Ensues

Max's POV

As I said before, I woke up and chaos immediately followed. Everybody was rushing around inside my room, acting as if the world was on fire. Then, it hit me. The world was on fire, well Anne's house anyway.

"Oh man, what the hell happened?" I interjected into the room, jumping up I clonked heads with Abbey. I picked her up and jumped out the window. Was I the only one who could think logically? Heat radiated from the house and nearby forest. I shielded Abbey's eyes, who was unconscious in my arms. I saw Gazzy and Angel holding hands, jumping from the back door. Fang flew up over the house; I guess he came out of a front window. Iggy and Charity leaped from a window closest to me. Iggy had Total in his arms. Now, we were waiting for Nudge and Rayne. I waited, hovering in the still and humid air for what seemed like ages. The others were at the pond, gathering water to attempt to put out the fire. They came back and rushed around throwing buckets of water where it was needed most. I still waited.

_Fang, are they okay, are you picking anything up? I'm not. _I carefully thought out the words before I sent them to Fang.

_Not yet, keep trying. I'll tell Angel to try too. _ I was getting worried. Nudge and Rayne were nowhere within my super-de-duper eye sight, this wasn't good.

The red blazes licked the air around the trees and I got worried. What if it hit the trees and started a forest fire? I covered Angel's ash coated face so the burst of flame didn't hurt her.

"Have you seen Nudge or Rayne?" I had to yell over the whoosh of the flames. They flew to the sky and changed shapes before my eyes.

I saw the flock, as we used to be, 8 kids with special abilities. Then I saw Fang and I towering over the others, Nudge and Rayne missing. Next I saw Fang and me with Jeb; we were the new mutants with extra powers. Then, I saw something new, totally unexpected. Fang and I were our old selves, smiling and hugging our flock. We all looked happy in this one; I wished it were still like that. Wait, I have that power. I can change the out come of things. Why can't I make it like that? I'll talk to Fang once we find Nudge and Rayne. Then, before my very eyes, the flames dwindled and were simple, hot flames again.

"Max? Max, are you okay?" Abbey was waving her hands in front of my face. I nodded blankly and continued my look out for the missing mutants. Hmm, how can we put this fire out? Wait! I got it! I concentrated all my thoughts on the clouds above me opening up and dumping water on the house.

Suddenly, I was drenched. I don't know if it was the raining settling into my skin or sweat from concentrating, but I smiled. Yes, the rain was beating on my skin. The flock ran under some scorched trees to get out of it, but I looked up to the sky. My powers did exactly what I wanted them too. Before I knew it, the house was only smoking and I could go in and search for any salvageable things.

"Guys! Come on, we need to go search." I said. They slowly came out of hiding and I walked to the destroyed house. How are we going to train mutants now? Yes, that was still our plan. The charred remnants of our living room were making a small crunching noise under my feet. Then, I saw what I had feared. Rayne's body. It was black and any remnants of clothes were destroyed. I stared in horror, then called.

"Charity, get over here!" I screamed. I didn't want her to see this, but she was the healer. She ran, now sprinted to where I was and yelled along with me. I held her and she bent down to touch her brother. Those sparks flew from her finger tips and flitted over Rayne's body for what seemed like forever. It had no effect! Rayne couldn't be gone, I wouldn't allow this. He was my brother; I wouldn't let him be dead. Not from a fire.

"Guys, I found Nudge! She's alive! Charity, I need you." Gazzy called from about 30 feet away. There was a faint cough and Charity's eyes immediately began a pouring rain.

"Max, he can't be gone. I need to help Nudge, will you stay here?" She asked. I nodded. She glanced once last time at Rayne and ran to Gazzy.

Nudge's POV

I had been getting milk and cookies with Rayne, our nightly ritual. I liked him a lot, and I knew he liked me. We were at the table, sitting quietly and talking. Suddenly, flames were surrounding us. I jumped up and ran upstairs to tell somebody and realized Rayne wasn't beside me. I ran back downstairs and saw him fighting off some_thing._ I was tall and sleek looking, like the new Max and Fang. Well, she was, it was definitely a girl. She was actually pretty. Brown hair, dark complexion, green piercing eyes, wings to match. I continued my journey upstairs, knowing Rayne was a lot stronger than he looked.

Suddenly, the flames were higher and my wind - effecting powers did nothing. I fell down the stairs, making loud clonking noises. It woke everybody up; at least I hope it did. The flames tickled my whole body, only I didn't laugh. It hurt, I wanted to cry.

Everything went black. I saw floating, no wings attached. I saw this little girl. Her skin was like mine. Actually, she could have been me as a little girl. She was me. She was in a cage, crying silently. Probably from some horrible test just done. Tawny, small wings protruded from her simple hospital gown. It was definitely a younger me. Jeb walked in and opened the cage door.

"No, please, no more! It hurts, Jeb. I thought you cared." I moaned. He smiled and mouthed 'I do.' Then he roughly slung me over his shoulder and carried me out of the room. I remember that day, every detail. That was when my obsession with talking began. They never let me talk during those tests. They tested my ability for other languages and punished me when I couldn't speak, read, or write them properly.

Then, I saw Jeb, risking his life for us, helping us escape. We got on a plane and flew to Colorado. Then, he was teaching us to fly and fight. I saw him as I had last seen him, before he disappeared. He was angry with me because I had just broken his favorite coffee mug. His eyes looked down the bridge of his nose at me, eyebrows meeting in anger. Then, we were rescuing Angel all over again. My whole, short life flashed before my eyes. No, this couldn't be it; I refuse to believe that I'll never see my family and boyfriend again. The eternal blackness was becoming…less black, if that makes any sense.

"Nudge? Are you okay?" Gazzy was looking into my eyes, concern etching his 9 year old face. I nodded and sat up way too quickly. Charity pushed me back down to rest again.

"Nudge, you're okay? Oh, thank God! I thought I'd lost you!" Angel said. Iggy wrapped his arms around my neck and I patted his elbow. Then I hugged Angel, Abbey, Charity, Gazzy, Fang, and Total. Max and Rayne were nowhere within my limited eye sight. Was Rayne…? I couldn't bear to think it.

"Where's Rayne? Is he okay?" I asked. Charity and Angel exchanged glance furtively and my stomach dropped about 3 feet.

"Nudge… he didn't make it. He's over there by Max." Fang said, slowly so slowly and painfully. Tears ran down my face and I touched my fingers to the uncommon moisture.

"No, no, no, he can't be. That isn't possible." I jumped up and ran to Max's side. There he was, except it wasn't him. It was more of a shell of his former self. I sunk to my knees and wept, something I had barely done since Jeb disappeared 3 and a half years ago.

**Wow, depressing ending. I cried while I was writing this. Tell me if you think Rayne should, like, stay dead or come back. I have ideas either way. PLEASE REVIEW!!**


	19. Finale

AHHHHHHH

**AHHHHHHH! I didn't get 1 review from the last chapter! Shame on all of you! Oh well, I'll end your misery once and for all. Unless, of course, I get a ton of reviews for this chapter. This is our final chapter of this story, sadly, but if you all like it, there may be another. This could become a trilogy with your help. One last thing, I have NO clue where this is going so don't get angry with me. I hope you guys can follow it, everything made sense in my head.**

Chapter 19: Finale

Max's POV

Last time I spoke with you, Rayne might or might not have been dead. He wasn't, thank God. That was 3 years ago. I'll do a quick catch up.

We rebuilt the house and are all living here pleasantly. I am a mother of 2. Char and Ig's baby, Lea, and Fang and my baby, Jacob. Lea is Iggy's pride and joy and he loves to listen to her little baby voice. Jacob is my boy. His cheeks are rosy and he's 4 months old. He has potential to be more powerful than Angel. He was the first pure bred Syre, after all. We've had a few run ins with Jeb and his crew, but come out with only a few minor bangs and bruises. Our army has grown from our pathetic 8 to an unimaginable 400! We had to build 3 extra houses.

Our main people in charge are Fang and I, but we have commanders and stuff of course. Iggy and Gazzy now manage our armory and weapons. Apparently, Charity was involved in some sort of prophecy along with Faith (mentioned before) and another avian named Hope. They do a good portion of the training. Nudge and Rayne are still going strong and help with the younger kids. Angel and Abbey, our special girls, help Fang and me. There's also Ying and Yang, twins who can make perfect copies of themselves, they lead our army.

Our army consists of every imaginable creation. There are a gazillion avians, Taszies, Erasers, and even 1 or 2 Syres who managed to escape. We haven't seen Kaila or Martin, but I haven't lost hope. We even have those unmentionables that Iggy had met after we came to Anne's.

I just turned 19, Fang and Iggy are 18. Charity is a beautiful 17 year old. Nudge is gorgeous at 16. Rayne is the same age. Gazzy is a charming, mischievous 14 year old. Abbey is 13. My baby, Angel, can't be considered a baby anymore at 12. They've all grown up so beautifully, even with their unconventional upbringing.

Jeb had been right; my flock was destined to save the world. He had just never mentioned that we needed to save it from him. Unfortunately, even as Amber, Mike, Susan, and Aaron come back from recruiting, Jeb's army gets stronger everyday. I know that with enough followers, we can over power him.

"Max, the recruiting team is back. They have about 5 people. Do we want me to show them around?" Abbey burst into my office as I was trying to wrestle a spoon full of baby food into Jacob's mouth. The recruiting team she was talking about consisted of those I mentioned above. I nodded.

"Yes, thanks Ab. And you haven't seen Fang around have you?" I asked her. He had often gone off by himself and blocked his thoughts. Abbey told me she hadn't seen him since lunch yesterday and went back downstairs. I sighed and picked the baby up out of my soft leather chair. I carried him downstairs to the room Iggy and Charity shared.

"Here, watch Jacob, I have to go find Fang." I handed Jacob, or Jake, to Charity and walked out of the room. She took him with a dazed look and watched me leave.

I walked through what I now considered head quarters. It was the whole bottom floor of the house. Mainly, the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Nope, no Fang. I checked the training yard out back and there he was of course. He had been taking on more work than necessary for him, as usual.

"Fang, we're having a meeting. Get Joy to take your spot and meet us in the kitchen as soon as you can." I had wanted to discuss our further plans, what would happen in a few days. New recruits were coming in almost faster than we could count them and we needed more space already. I walked to the head of the long kitchen table. Soon enough, Nudge, Rayne, Abbey, Angel, Gazzy, Iggy, Charity, Hope, Faith, Ying, Yang, and Fang gathered around me.

"Okay, thank you all for joining me here. I think we have a few things to discuss. Who would like to start?" I asked once everybody else had been ushered out of the room and we all sat down. Yang raised his hand.

"Yes, I think Jeb is planning an attack. As you know, we have spies over there. They are deep in his facility and they've heard rumors of a possible attack. I say we lead a force, large obviously, and strike before he knows what's going on." Ying and Yang finished in unison. I rolled my eyes, haven't they ever heard of individuality?

"Okay, that's a good idea. Any other problems before I bring up mine?" I asked leaning my hands on the table. Nobody said anything, so I continued, "Okay, we're already almost out of room. We need more room for training and rooming. Anybody have any possible solutions?" I thought I had an idea, but I decided my small 'empire' wasn't a Maxocracy.

"How about we build more rooms, like houses and stuff?" Hope suggested. I had thought of that.

"Why don't we, like, clear cut the forest and build where the school was?" Iggy suggested. That idea was ludicrous; there would be no clear cutting while I was alive.

"Absolutely not, Ig." I said firmly.

"Why don't we relocate? Move HQ to, like, a more deserted area. Maybe we could find out what is in Area 51, I've always wondered. Or we could move to Paris. Paris was so pretty. Maybe we could go to Hawaii." Nudge started her babble, but my mind wandered. That had been my idea. Not the Area 51, Paris, or Hawaii part, more the relocating part.

"Nudge, you're brilliant! We'll relocate." I wanted to hug her for the idea, but couldn't in the presence of my officers.

"Thanks, where will we go though?" She asked. Great, there goes the Fabulous Maximum Ride's plan, thwarted by a 16 year old. I shrugged.

"Max always has a plan. She knows, but might not want to reveal it. Right?" Angel covered for me helpfully. I smiled and nodded. She always had my back.

"Yup, I know exactly where we're going." Even as I said it, a plan formulated in my head. It was brilliant. I needed a big, spacious, secluded place to train and recruit my army, duh, the old house! I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier. Finally, we're going back to our E shaped house in the mountains.

_**3 DAYS LATER**_

We made it safely here, to Colorado. Our house is just how we left it, not even, like, torched to the ground. All the guys and I have been working on the new rooms. Everybody else is still recruiting. We already have 2 more houses up, enough for maybe 100 people in total. We have a lot of work in front of us. Our E shaped house is reserved for meetings, the flock, and my commanding officers. We have plenty of space out here and the chances of being found aren't high.

Jeb might know the location, but we have a few unique powers with our army. These 2 siblings, Jesse and Jamie, have the ability to become invisible and turn things invisible. Unless you know what you're doing and looking for, you wouldn't be able to see the houses.

"Max, the recruiters are back. I hear them." Iggy said, tapping my shoulder in that light way only he could.

"Okay, I'd better go meet them. You guys keep working." I said. Iggy went back to work and I walked toward the E house. I saw a large group of experiments, some familiar some not, waiting patiently for me.

"Hi, I'm Max. I'm in charge here. Follow me and I'll show you around," I said. They followed me slowly through the grounds, eyeing our training areas and newly built houses. They were always so timid and shy when they came to us, soon enough they'll feel right at home and be happy to help. This group had maybe 50 people, ranging from maybe 2 years old to about 17, "If you're under 5, you'll stay in this house until you turn 5. Everybody else gets 1 of the others areas. Right now, we're low on rooms, so we all just have to make due with what we have. Who here is 10 or older?" About 15 people raised their hands. I led them to where everybody was helping to build and asked them to help. They eagerly joined in as I went back to help situate the others.

"Excuse me," there was a small tug on my shirt, "I'm Kiki, I can't find my sister. Can you help me?" Kiki looked about 2, definitely one of our younger ones.

"Of course, how old is your sister?" I bent down until our eyes were at the same level.

"She's 15. She's pretty and I need her. Where is she?" The small child's eyes gazed into mine and I suddenly felt like a small Angel was looking at me. Those innocent yet disturbing blue eyes, soft brown hair rather than Angel's blonde, and an aura that said 'I may be cute, but I'm anything but innocent,' kept me on my guard.

"Okay, you're sister is probably helping build the houses. How about we find somebody for you to play with? You'll see your sister at lunch in an hour, okay?" I told Kiki. She smiled, satisfied with my answer, and tucked her small hand into mine. With that, I led her to where Lea was playing softly in the grass with her little brother. Jacob was only 4 months old and he already talked and walked a little. Lea walked and ran and talked a little baby talk, "Hey sweetie. This is Kiki; can she play with you and Jake?" I asked my darling daughter. She nodded and I walked off saying that I would come back when lunch was ready.

Only that never happened. About 20 minutes later, a terrible attack occurred. Apparently we weren't the only side with spies. Jeb and his incredibly enhanced forces attacked us. Our unskilled 450 soldiers did their best, I know they did. But, we all ended up lying broken and bleeding on the ground or being captured. Rayne managed to run toward where Lea, Jacob, and Kiki were, but I didn't see anything after that because I blacked out.

_**WHO KNOWS HOW MUCH LATER**_

"Max, Max, are you okay? You've been out for forever." A voice I'd recognize anywhere said in my ear. I groggily sat up and tried to focus my eyes on Iggy.

"Ig? Where are we? Where is everybody else?" I couldn't see anything except Iggy's slim frame looming over me and got nervous. I noticed my voice was slurred and felt like I had some sort of drug coursing through my veins.

"I don't know, Max. I woke up almost an hour ago and can't find anybody else. I think Rayne and the kids got away, at least I hope they did. The last thing I felt was him leave my side. I heard you yell and Fang was somewhere in the middle of it all, yelling and fighting and just opening a can of whoop ass. Then, everything went black, well blacker than the normal black anyway." I heard the small, sad smile in his voice and hoped that everybody else was okay.

"Well then, I guess we have 2 options. Number 1, we can wait for somebody to either rescue us or kill us, which ever comes first. Or number 2, my personal favorite, we can try to rescue ourselves and the others. That is, if I can move." I tried to stand only to find that my hands were in manacles attached to a cold stone wall and I had almost no strength.

"Max, you're attached to the wall too, aren't you?" Iggy asked. I sighed heavily. Doesn't anybody trust their prisoners anymore? Apparently not. A bright light flooded the room and I shut my overly sensitive eyes to it.

"Good, you're both awake. Max you should feel better soon. Then, you can proceed to attempt escape, get caught, be killed, and live the rest of eternity in a cold pit of hell reserved for people like us." I knew that voice by heart, too. Of course it was Jeb, who else would it be? Oh man, he was going to kill me and Ig.

"What do you mean? I'm just as powerful if not more so than you Jeb. Fang and I are both almost unstoppable." I pointed out in that nice way I have.

"Not anymore. You're not a Syre. Sorry, but I couldn't take the chance of you actually winning this war, now could I? This is the recovery room. You 2 will be here until you either die or escape. And trust, as normal hybrids, there's little chance of the 2nd option." Jeb informed us. So what had happened to the others? Were they already dead? Did we have any hope of escape? Maybe the rest of them had gotten away and were finding a way to help us escape.

"Oh yea, bcause we haven't heard that line before. That's what you told them in Germany, they're still here. We all heard that back in the School and we're still alive and kicking. What makes you think that this time will be any different?" Iggy used that fabulous sense of sarcasm to its full advantage. Inwardly, I smiled. He always knew how to keep our chins up, the blind kid.

"I'm so confident because you're being guarded this time. Every other time what went wrong? You weren't constantly watched. This time, I won't make a mistake. I've learned to NEVER underestimate my opponent. It's time you 2 learned that lesson. Now, I'll see you for supper. I'll leave the lights on. Your guards will bring you clothes when dinner is ready. Good evening." Jeb said with a sadistic smile that turned my heart to lead. Since when do we have to dress up for dinner? And we were eating with that monster? This was our creepiest situation yet. I watched him walk out the room, slamming the door behind him and I turned to Iggy.

"How the hell are we going to get out of this one?" He asked me. Of course I had to come up with the plan. I'm the oldest, it's always my responsibility.

"I don't know, Ig. Maybe we'll get lucky and just magically transport ourselves out of this place." I offered my ingenuity and he smiled, knowing exactly what I meant.

"Or maybe, you're guard will happen to be one of your spies who has the key to the front door." The guard poked his head in with a smile. My face brightened. This was one of the guys who had helped build more houses in Colorado.

"OMG, Mike! Thank God you can help us out of here. I thought we were stuck." I said, relief flooding my body.

"Uh, can you help Max stand, because she sounds pretty weak." Iggy said as Mike walked over to us, a bunch of jingling keys in his hand. He nodded and undid Iggy's shackles. He opened mine and I rubbed my wrists. Those stupid things had left red rings going all the way around my wrists and they hurt.

"Okay, put 1 arm around my neck, both of you. I can support Max, Ig. Just hold tight and don't let go. If you feel the least bit sick, close your eyes immediately. I don't appreciate barf all over my shoes." I nodded, already feeling green. I remembered what Mike's power was. He could transport. So, apparently we seriously lucked out. My eyes were shut tight and Mike's arm was tight around my waist. I wrapped my left arm around his neck and Iggy did the same.

My stomach hit the floor as I felt the room tilt under my feet. There was a loud whoosh in my ears and a pulling sensation across my abdomen. My skin got tight and I felt like I might have exploded or imploded or whatever the proper term is. Then, it was all over. Thank God, because I could have barfed any second.

"Oh, Mike, you found them. I was worried. Here, Nudge found some berries. I'm pretty sure they're edible." Charity sounded relieved. Mike let go of me and his arm was replaced by familiar hands.

"Charity? Where are we? There are so many things I want to ask, but I'm too dizzy." My voice still sounded slurred, but that might have been because of my recent transportation method. Charity laid me down carefully on something that felt like moss. I was too tired and drugged to open my eyes and check.

"We're at our temporary camp. Everybody is safe. Fang's here. He can't talk. He has a fat lip. My healing powers are down for some reason. Nudge can still talk though, if that's any condolence." I hadn't understood much of what she said, but I caught a few key words. Camp, Fang, lip, and Nudge were basically what I heard. In my mind I though 'we're at camp, Fang's lips are on Nudge.' Luckily, I was too exhausted to do anything about it, maybe in the morning.

"Mkay, 'night." My reply was drowsy sounding and I felt embarrassed by my lack of vocabulary. I fell asleep never the less and woke to the same sounds I had heard for 3 years. The happy yells and shouts of children and older kids talking. I attempted to sit, but strong hands pushed me back down.

"Max, I doubt you remember, but you've been de-Syre-ized. You really need to rest, I'll stay here with you though, if you want." Fang told me calmly. I nodded and opened my eyes to tiny slits. There he was, big and tough looking.

"Stay here, please. How long have I been out? Where were you? I woke up and you weren't there. I thought I lost you," I felt a repeat of the Valium episode coming on, but he needed to hear this. Even if I was drugged up when I said it. So I continued my probably embarrassing speech, "Where's Lea and Jacob? They need to hear this too. Fang I love and I never meant to hurt you. You don't if I fall asleep I'll have the strength to get up. Please make sure that everybody is okay. Tell them all I love them. Give the kids a kiss for me." My last few words were inaudible. I fell into a dark, warm sleep and didn't wake up until the sun forced my eye lids open.

"Morning, sleeping beauty. You feeling okay? I think Jeb used Valium." Fang came over to sit next to me. He smiled a little at his own joke, but my insides felt like flipping inside out.

"Yeah, I'm fine… maybe. I'll be right back." I said. I pulled myself up and ran to the near by bushes to barf up a lung. Coming back, I saw how full our camp was and felt like a total idiot. Were we the only ones that got captured? How long was I there? Where are we now?

"We're in a forest in a deserted part of New Jersey; I think it's called the Pine Barrens. No, you and Ig weren't the only ones who got captured, but he stayed to make sure you were okay. You guys have been gone for about a month, I think, right Fang?" Angel had apparently read my mind.

"Yeah, we've been waiting here until Mike could rescue you. Now that you're here, let's go. Pack up, guys, we're heading out." Fang called over all the trees. Strangely, without the talking, the forest was quiet. Like almost an eerie quiet, no birds or anything. I got chills up and down my arms and shivered.

We packed up and walked/flew (depending on who you were) to a cozy looking camp area some where near the Delaware River.

"This looks like a good spot for a camp. Look out below!" I called and tucked in my wings. The cold air helped with my headache and stomach. The other fliers landed softly next to me a few seconds later. The walkers caught up with in minutes, "Ig, Gaz, fire. Nudge, Abbey, Ange, food. Fang, you and I are going to find Rayne. Everybody else, make beds or scope for food and other people." I was back in charge and nobody could stop me from my new mission. Fang gave me a 'you're not going anywhere' glare and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Max, I think you should stay here. You were pretty over dramatic last night and I don't think the drugs have fully worn off yet." Fang stated. I shook my head angrily.

"Fang, you can't keep me from finding our kids. I'm coming with you whether you like it or not," I didn't give him any more chances to protest, he knew it was useless anyway, "Now; I think we should start back at Colorado. You can still read minds, so maybe you can pick up their trail. Come on, let's go. We may not have much time," I gathered a backpack of food and turned to Iggy, "Thanks, but we have to find the kids. You're in charge until we get back." I hugged him and we took off.

A few hours later of super speed we were over the E shaped house in Colorado.

"Okay, we land and you mentally search the place. Rayne knew we would come back, we would wait for us." I reassured both him and myself. I only sounded half convinced. We landed anyway and Fang opened his mind as wide as it would go. That distance was about 2 miles.

"Max, I got something. It's definitely kids. This way, follow me." Fang said quietly. He crouch walked to his left and I sighed. I hated following anybody, it was in my nature. You can take the girl out of the Syre, but you can't take the Syre out of the girl, or something like that. I followed him and saw Rayne, fast asleep under a bush once we stopped. In his arms were Lea, Jacob and Kiki!

"Oh, Rayne, thank God. I was so worried!" Fang collapsed right there. I stared at him and bent down to pick up my babies. I cooed and cahed and kissed them fiercely. Then, I gently bent down and shook Rayne awake.

"Are you okay? Can you walk? We have a camp in New Jersey. If you need to, Fang can carry you." I offered. Rayne shook his head.

"I've been flying everywhere. I can even carry a kid while flying a long distance now." He said, puffing out his chest a little.

"Okay, I left Iggy in charge so we have to go soon if we don't want a destroyed camp." I smiled and kissed Jacob again. Rayne took lea out of my arms and Fang picked up Kiki. We took off and flew straight to New Jersey.

_**A FEW MONTHS LATER**_

We once again have a permanent settlement. It's in the Appalachian Mountains this time. We have tons of houses, normal size. A big, rocky training ground. That helps with the all-terrain defense. Almost everybody got to pick their room mates and we all built the houses together. They got done in about a week. Kiki and her sister, Cleo, were reunited and are living in the house next to mine and Fang's. Iggy and Charity have a house on the other side and they share with the rest of the flock. Our army has grown to over 2,000 and we're growing everyday. We defeated Jeb about a month ago in a bloody battle. He's gone and as he once told Fang and I, we control his empire.

"Good morning, sunshine, sunshine junior. And let's not forgot Mommy's baby girl, shall we?" I leaned over the cribs next to the bed after kissing Fang good morning. Yea, for the first time ever, everybody was happy. If I ever have to narrate again, it won't be pretty.

**TA DA! I loved that! I hope you guys loved reading this as much as I loved writing it. I hope I get lots of reviews so that I can do a trilogy. LOVE AND PEACE, kiki1592! And I'd like to say: BAM! Longest chapter…ever written by me…EVER! It was 4-thousand-something words and almost 7 FULL pages on Microsoft.**


	20. Epilogue

I'm going to talk about what happened to each character after the last chapter, not like a story

**I'm going to talk about what happened to each character after the last chapter, not like a story. Seriously, I've decided against a trilogy, sorry.**

Epilogue

Maximum Ride lived a healthy, full life. She had five kids. Leah, Jacob, Edward, Anna, and Meggie. She happily controlled her empire and she did it well. Max loved her kids, although she wasn't the best mother. She was good to everything that lived. Max died at the age of 73, the causes were all natural.

Fang was an excellent father, husband, and ruler, right until the very end. He didn't mind ruling beside Max and letting her lead, as he always had. He loved his kids and wife more than life itself. Fang's demise was more traumatic than Max's. After Max's death, he couldn't bear being without her and committed suicide not even a year later.

Leah was the only adopted one of Max and Fang's children. She was the oldest. Leah had always felt a close connection to Iggy, her real father. It wasn't until she was in her late twenties that Leah learned Iggy was her dad. She was overjoyed, but never stopped calling him 'Uncle Ig.' Leah ended up happily married to Charlie, an escaped Syre. Although they never had children, they were close to their nieces and nephews. Leah died when she was 52 in a flu epidemic. Her powers were fire control and internal infrared, taking after her parents.

Jacob was the oldest of Fang and Max's biological children. He had every power a Syre did, only concentrated. Jacob never married, preferring the wilderness to civilization. He helped replenish libraries, though, by writing books on animals and plants. Even to this day, nobody is totally sure what happened to Jacob.

Edward was the most powerful of Max and Fang's children. Although it wasn't true, people said that he was Angel and Fang's child because they were the most powerful mutants who ever lived…until Edward. He possessed every power imaginable. Stronger than either of his parents, Edward lived well into his one hundreds. He died long after his wife, Carol, and kids.

Anna was the worst of their children. After Fang's death, the empire was broken into 10 pieces, one for each flock member and one for each child. Anna ruled well at first. She soon took a turn for the worst, though, and her part of the empire went out of control. She raised an army and attacked her sibling Edward's, empire. Being as strong as he was, his miniscule army took out her large one easily and Anna was no more. Her territory was broken up into nine pieces, for each remaining ruler.

Meggie had the best sense of leadership of all her siblings. Luckily, she took after her mother. She even had the same powers, down to a voice in her head. Although this voice was her own better judgment very loud. Meggie looked like her mother, too, right down to her wings. She led her territory well, almost totally without mishaps. Meggie died in her late forties, poisoned by her evil sister.

Charity and Iggy got married. They had 3 kids, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Will. Charity was known far and wide as 'Aunt Char.' Iggy become known as both 'Chef Man' or 'Uncle Fire.' They were happy as long as they lived. Charity out lived Iggy by seven years. Iggy lived to be sixty four. Their kids took over their territory after Charity's death. Iggy never regained his sight fully, although he was able to see colors here and there.

Nudge and Rayne were always happy together. Nudge was the most gorgeous thing most people had ever seen. Rayne grew up to be incredibly handsome. They had twins, Lily and Rose. They resembled Rayne, but had their mother's personality and powers. Nudge died peacefully, well into her seventies. Rayne, however, died early. In his late thirties, Anna attacked and Rayne was killed in the battle. Lily and Rose split up their territory when Nudge could no longer function properly. Nudge never stopped the babbling.

Gazzy's empire was…unique. It was more like a circus. He controlled it well, but nobody in his empire was normal in any sense of the word. His wife, Julie, loved to watch some of them perform on the streets. His empire gained wealth because they performed. Iggy often hired them for his children's birthday parties. Gazzy lived into his early nineties and died in a freak performing incident.

Abbey got married early. Although her first marriage fell apart, she remarried a man named Chase. Abbey already had one kid, Matthew, with Mike (her first husband). With Chase, she had two more, Bethany and Edie. They all had a happy life together. Abbey died in her sixties from natural causes.

And Angel, ah Angel, she had the worst life out of every flock member. She died early, in a bloody battle against a few of Jeb's rebellions. Her husband, Tom, and new born daughter, Penny, were crushed. Miraculously, Total had outlived Angel and was torn in half when she died. To took over her part of the empire. She never regretted a thing that happened in her life.

And now, I'd like to leave you with Max's dying words. "My life has been so fulfilling. I have five incredible kids and the best husband you could ever ask for. I love my family. My life was hard in the beginning, but look what I've created. I've seen so many horrible things, but also so many places. I've done more than most people combined. This is the end of an era." And this, my friends, is the end of the Maximum Ride.

**I somehow managed to LOVE that ending. Sorry, but not everybody can have happy endings. I've had a lot of questions about how I came up with character names. If I get at least 3 reviews, I'll post a chapter (the complete final one, though) on how I got the names.**


End file.
